Investigation of structural properties of amorphous carbon nitride thin films prepared by xenon cloride pulsed laser deposition of camphoric carbon precursor

Raman scattering analysis revealed that the structure of carbon (C) films prepared by pulsed laser deposition at room temperature is predominantly amorphous and the structure of amorphous C nitride (a-CNx) films can be changed with varying substrate temperatures (ST) from 20 to 500 °C. The deposited a-CNx films are composed of C-N, C-N and C-O bonded materials and the C-N and C=N bonds are increased with ST. We have found no other obvious peaks can be distinguished in the range 900 to 2300 cm−1 in which several peaks always appear in a-CNx films. The spectra were deconvoluted into Raman D and G peaks and the structural parameters are determined. The upward shifts of Raman G peak towards 1592 cm−1 shows the evidence of a progressive formation of crystallites in a-CNx films upon increase of ST. While, the upward shifts of Raman D peak towards 1397 cm−1 have been related to the decreased of bond-angle disorder and sp3 tetrahedral bonding in its structure. Raman FWHM and IDIG also indicate that N incorporation with increased of ST caused an increase in the number and/or size of graphitic domains in the a-CNx films.