ABSTRACT
Adhesion and delamination behavior of amorphous carbon nitride (a-CN(x)) is critical to development of wear resistant materials and protective coatings. Here, the composition and delamination behavior of a-CN(x) films was explored utilizing BrCN, CH3CN, and CH4 as film precursors, either alone or in combination with one another. Film delamination depends on film thickness and plasma composition as well as post deposition treatment conditions. Delamination is not observed with films deposited from 100% CH3CN discharges, whereas films of similar thickness deposited from 100% BrCN plasmas delaminate almost immediately upon exposure to atmosphere. Exploration of these differences in delamination behavior is discussed relative to contributions of humidity, hydrocarbon species, and ion bombardment during deposition in conjunction with compositional studies using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).
ABSTRACT
This review focuses on the use of diagnostic tools to examine plasma processing chemistry, primarily plasma species energetics, dynamics, and molecule-surface reactions. We describe the use of optical diagnostic tools, mass spectrometry, and Langmuir probes in measuring species densities, rotational and kinetic energies, and plasma-surface reactions. Molecule-surface interactions for MX(n) species (M = C, Si, N; X = H, F, Cl) are presented and interpreted with respect to the molecule's electronic configuration and dipole moments.
