High N-content a-C:N films elaborated by femtosecond PLD with plasma assistance

•Nitrogen doped amorphous carbon films were deposited by DC reactive plasma femtosecond (fs) -PLD and conventional fs-PLD.•High nitrogen content in plasma assisted films.•More ordered sp2 rich graphitic clusters both in terms of structural and topological order.•Correlation length La of the clusters...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied surface science 2015-03, Vol.332, p.346-353
Main Authors: Maddi, C., Donnet, C., Loir, A.-S., Tite, T., Barnier, V., Rojas, T.C., Sanchez-Lopez, J.C., Wolski, K., Garrelie, F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amorphous materials
Carbon
Carbon nitride
Concentration (composition)
EELS
Electron energy loss spectroscopy
Engineering Sciences
Femtosecond
Femtosecond laser
Materials
MW Raman spectroscopy
Plasma assistance
PLD
Thin films
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
XPS
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Summary:•Nitrogen doped amorphous carbon films were deposited by DC reactive plasma femtosecond (fs) -PLD and conventional fs-PLD.•High nitrogen content in plasma assisted films.•More ordered sp2 rich graphitic clusters both in terms of structural and topological order.•Correlation length La of the clusters increases with nitrogen incorporation.•Formation of CN bonds at the expense of CC bonds with N content.•At the highest nitrogen concentration, terminal CN groups are incorporated in the film.•Correlation between film composition and plasma process. Amorphous carbon nitride (a-C:N) thin films are a interesting class of carbon-based electrode materials. Therefore, synthesis and characterization of these materials have found lot of interest in environmental analytical microsystems. Herein, we report the nitrogen-doped amorphous carbon thin film elaboration by femtosecond pulsed laser deposition (fs-PLD) both with and without a plasma assistance. The chemical composition and atomic bonding configuration of the films were investigated by multi-wavelength (MW) Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS). The highest nitrogen content, 28at.%, was obtained with plasma assistance. The I(D)/I(G) ratio and the G peak position increased as a function of nitrogen concentration, whereas the dispersion and full width at half maximum (FWHM) of G peak decreased. This indicates more ordered graphitic like structures in the films both in terms of topological and structural, depending on the nitrogen content. EELS investigations were correlated with MW Raman results. The interpretation of XPS spectra of carbon nitride films remains a challenge. Plasma assisted PLD in the femtosecond regime led to a significant high nitrogen concentration, which is highlighted on the basis of collisional processes in the carbon plasma plume interacting with the nitrogen plasma.
ISSN:0169-4332
1873-5584
DOI:10.1016/j.apsusc.2015.01.123