Raman spectroscopy of carbon nitride films deposited using the filtered cathodic vacuum-arc technique combined with a radio-frequency nitrogen-ion beam

Ultraviolet (UV) and visible micro-Raman-scattering spectroscopy were used to study carbon nitride films deposited using an off-plane double-bend-filtered cathodic vacuum-arc (FCVA) technique combined with a radio-frequency nitrogen-ion source, which was used to supply active nitrogen species during the deposition of carbon nitride films. The UV Raman spectra can be directly used to determine the sp3 C atoms in carbon nitride films. Both C-N bonds and C≡N bonds can also be observed from the deconvolution results of visible and UV Raman spectra for carbon nitride films. The increase of nitrogen-ion energy leads to a decrease of the sp3 C fraction, and an increase of the sp2 C fraction, the sp2 C cluster size, the C-N bond fraction and the C≡N bond fraction in carbon nitride films.