Rapid chemical vapor deposition of graphitic carbon nitride films

Abstract

Rapid chemical vapor deposition of continuous thin films of graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN) material with stoichiometry close to its ideal g-C3N4 form on silicon and glass substrates is demonstrated. It allows fabrication of 200–1200 nm g-CN films within 3–5 min at 500–620 °C instead of earlier reported few hours. SEM, XRD and EDX analysis of the films revealed their grain-layered structure and high crystallinity. The film thickness and crystallinity were found to have maximum at synthesis temperature of 575–600 °C. Energy band gap of the material changes with the deposition temperature too and reaches its maximum of 2.98 eV at 600 °C. Dependence of the film properties on the deposition temperature evidences competition between the rates of synthesis and evaporation of the synthesized material. The developed approach is energy budget saving and could be scaled up using conventional rapid thermal processing equipment opening a way to practical g-CN based electronics and optoelectronics.