Structural characterization of nitrogen doped diamond-like carbon films deposited by arc ion plating

Abstract Nitrogen doped diamond-like carbon films were deposited on Si (1 0 0) substrates by arc ion plating (AIP) technique under different N 2 volume percentage in the gas mixture of Ar and N 2 . The deposited films were characterized by Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Raman spectra indicate that the I D / I G ratio increases with increasing the N 2 volume percentage. XPS analysis shows a strong influence of the N 2 volume percentage on the N atom concentration and the chemical bonding states in the deposited films. Nitrogen content of the deposited films increased with the increasing of N 2 volume percentage. The maximum N concentration and N/C atomic ratio are up to 12.7 at.% and 0.162 at the 90 vol.% N 2 , respectively. From decomposition of XPS C 1s peaks, it shows that the nitrogen doped diamond-like carbon films consist of amorphous carbon–carbon bonding (sp 2 C C and sp 3 C C), N atoms bonded to sp 3 -hybridized C atoms (sp 3 C N) and N atoms bonded to sp 2 -hybridized C atoms (sp 2 C N). The total content of sp 3 bonding decreases with increasing N 2 volume percentage. XPS N 1s spectra show that there exist the N sp 2 C and N sp 3 C bonding in the deposited nitrogen doped diamond-like carbon films. As the N 2 volume percentage increases, the N sp 3 C bonding content increases, but the N sp 2 C bonding content decreases.