Deposition of carbon nitride films by an electron-beam-excited plasma sputtering method

A sputtering method enhanced by an electron-beam-excited plasma having a high dissociation efficiency of nitrogen was performed for the first time. Hydrogen-free carbon nitride films were deposited by sputtering a carbon target with N2 and Ar ions and evaluated for bonding states, composition and hardness. Results from Fourier transform infrared and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) suggested that the deposited carbon nitride films contained CN, CN and CN bonds. From XPS analysis, the N/C atomic ratios were found to be in the range of 0.38–0.46, and the films with higher N/C atomic ratios revealed lower dynamic hardnesses.