Preparation, characterization and properties of N-rich Zr–N thin film with Th3P4 structure

A N-rich Zr–N film with Th3P4 structure (denoted as c-Zr3N4) was grown on Si and glass substrate by radio frequency (rf) magnetron sputtering technique with high pure Zr as target and high pure N2 as sputtering gas. The crystal structure and composition of the c-Zr3N4 was characterized by X-ray diffractometry, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The lattice constant of the c-Zr3N4 was measured to be about 0.674 nm. Hall measurement indicates that the c-Zr3N4 compound is a p-type semiconductor with resistivity of 2.121 × 104 Ω cm, carrier concentration of 9 × 1014 cm−3 and Hall mobility of 0.34 cm2/(V s). Its bandgap was evaluated by absorption spectroscopy to be about 2.8 eV. A mechanism of formation of the c-Zr3N4 compound was suggested in the present work.