Raman spectroscopy studies of the influence of substrate temperature and ion beam energy on CN_x thin films deposited by nitrogen-ion-assisted pulsed laser deposition

Carbon nitride thin films were deposited by nitrogen-ion-assisted pulsed laser ablation of graphite. A KrF excimer laser with pulse duration of 23 ns and wavelength of 248 nm was used as the laser source for the ablation. Raman spectroscopy measurements were used to characterise the deposited thin films. The influences of substrate temperature and nitrogen ion beam energy on the electronic properties of the deposited thin films were studied. The suitable parameters of substrate temperature and ion energy were suggested given our deposition conditions and setup in order to obtain large graphite-like crystallite structures or to realize a high content of amorphous CN_x. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was also adopted to assist the characterisation and evaluation of the deposited CN_x thin films.