XAES and XPS study of amorphous carbon nitride layers

An attempt is made to apply a method of the C KVV Auger peak width, successfully used for estimation of sp2 sites of carbon atoms in a-C and a-C:H films, to amorphous hydrogen-free carbon nitride layers exposed to air. The C KVV line width is related to the surface composition determined by photoelectron spectroscopy. Results show that the width is strongly influenced by oxygen. An evident correlation between the width and oxygen atomic concentration at layer surfaces is found.