Effect of Reactive Nitrogen Gas on the Electrical and Optical Properties of Rf-Sputtered Amorphous Carbon Films

Abstract

AbstractWe have investigated the changes in the temperature dependence of the dc conductivity and the optical gap with nitrogen content in amorphous carbon nitride (a-C:N) films, in order to find the effect of nitrogen doping on the electrical and optical properties of amorphous carbon films. Specimens were deposited onto borosilicate glass substrates by the rf magnetron sputtering method using Ar and N2 as a sputtering gas and a reactive one, respectively. The values of the activation energy of the dc conductivity, Ea, of these films are 0.3∼0.8 eV and those of the optical gap, Eg, are 0.8∼ 1.4 eV. Both values decrease with increasing nitrogen content, which is due to the increase of the concentration or average size of sp islands segregated into the sp matrix by nitrogen doping. From the investigation of the behavior of both Ea and Eg in accordance with the nitrogen content, we discuss the three subsequent shifts of band edge and Fermi level, accompanied with the subsequent changes of microstructure in a-CN films by nitrogen doping.