Investigation of carbon nitride films by cathodic arc evaporation

Abstract

Presently there is great interest in deposition of the β-phase C 3N 4 because its predicted hardness and moduli exceed those of diamond. The use of energetic particle beam methods have shown promise in terms of nitrogen incorporation. Energetic and highly ionized beams from cathodic arcs have also proven to be effective in deposition of tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C). In this paper we report on CN films deposited using a carbon arc in nitrogen atmosphere. Films with nitrogen concentration ranging from 17–32% were deposited as a function of nitrogen pressure and substrate temperature. CN x films deposited above room temperature and 1 mTorr (0.013 Pa) of N 2 were found to have low stress, indicating the presence of mostly sp 2 bonding.