Nitrogen Ion Beam Irradiation on Amorphous Carbon

Abstract

Both bulk and thin film amorphous carbon were irradiated using a nitrogen ion beam and changes in surface roughness and composition after ion beam irradiation have been studied. Amorphous carbon thin films were prepared from toluene vapor using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Ion irradiation was performed at room temperature using a nitrogen ion beam and the ion beam energy was varied from 0.2 to 1.5 keV under the constant ion current density. Surface morphology was observed with atomic force microscopy (AFM). Depth profiles of nitrogen in the irradiated specimens were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). AFM observations reveal that after the ion beam irradiation the surface of the bulk amorphous carbon becomes rough, while the surface of the amorphous carbon films becomes smooth. However, the notable difference in the surface roughness is hardly observed between low- and high-energy ion irradiation. From XPS studies, it is found that the nitrogen concentration near the surface increases after the ion irradiation for both bulk and thin films and irradiated nitrogen ions are combined with carbon, resulting in formation of carbon nitride layers. Depth profiles of nitrogen show that for the bulk specimen low-energy ion irradiation is more effective for the carbon nitride formation than high-energy ion irradiation, while for the thin films high-energy ions are implanted more deeply than low-energy ions.