Microstructure related photoluminescence in a-CNx films deposited by reactive rf magnetron sputtering

We investigated the photoluminescence (PL) properties of carbon nitride films (CNx) deposited by rf magnetron sputtering and compared them to their microstructure depending on the target self-bias. While many of the data are compatible with ‘a-C:H like’ PL properties the observed variation of the PL efficiency η with respect to the target bias cannot be easily explained by the standard models. It is suggested that the observed variation of η is rather dominated by a change in microstructure which depends on the bombardment intensity during growth than by the concentration of non-radiative centres.