Bonding structure in carbon nitride films: variation with nitrogen content and annealing temperature

The variation in the bonding structure in carbon nitride films measured by IR spectroscopy was recently described. It was shown that as nitrogen content increased, an increasing proportion of the nitrogen is incorporated with IR-invisible bonding, postulated to be nitrogen-nitrogen bonding. In this paper X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements have confirmed the presence of N-N bonding in high nitrogen content films. Annealing studies have shown that the elimination of C = N bonding as seen from IR absorption measurements is reflected in changes in the XPS behaviour. The components of the XPS C(ls) and N(ls) peaks have been identified by comparing with Fourier transform infra red (FTIR) and Raman characteristics of the films. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.