Abstract
Because of their outstanding characteristics, diamond-like carbon (DLC) thin films have been recognized as interesting materials for a variety of applications. For this reason, the effects of the incorporation of different elements on their fundamental properties have been the focus of many studies. In this work, nitrogen-incorporated DLC films were deposited on Si (100) substrates by DC magnetron sputtering of a graphite target under a variable N2 gas flow rate in CH4 + N2 + Ar gas mixtures. The influence of high N2 flow ratios (20, 40 and 60%) on the chemical, structural and morphological properties of N-DLC films was investigated. Different techniques including field emission gun-equipped scanning electron microscope (FEG-SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), profilometry, Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) and Raman spectroscopy (325-nm and 514-nm excitation) were used to examine the properties of the N-DLC films. Thus, the incorporation of nitrogen was correlated with the morphology, roughness, thickness, structure and chemical bonding of the films. Overall, the results obtained indicate that the fundamental properties of N-DLC films are not only related to the nitrogen content in the film but also to the type of chemical bonds formed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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