Optical emission diagnostic of laser-induced plasma during CNx film deposition

To investigate the characteristics of the plasma plume created by reactive laser ablation (RLA) of graphite, optical emission spectra (OES) of the ablated species were recorded for different distances from the target for various laser fluences and for several N-2 pressures. The spectra were dominated by the molecular bands of C-2 and CN radical: C-2 Swan and CN violet spectral systems. From the molecular band intensities the rotational and vibrational temperatures of CN radicals were derived though there is not a significant dependence of the temperature with fluence, a strong increase of intensity can be observed with the increase of the laser fluence.