Deposition and characterization of metastable Cu3N layers for applications in optical data storage

Cu3N films for optical data storage were deposited on Si(100) wafers and 0.6 mm thick polycarbonate DVD base material discs at a temperature of 50 °C by reactive magnetron sputtering. A copper target was sputtered in rf mode in a nitrogen plasma. For basic investigations concerning the composition and structure of Cu3N, Si wafers were used as substrate material. To study the suitability of Cu3N as an optical data storage medium under technical conditions, Cu3N/Al bilayers were deposited on polycarbonate discs. The composition and structure of the films were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD).