Structural and Chemical Study of a‐BC, a‐CN, and a‐BCN Thin Films Prepared by Reactive RF Sputtering*

Abstract Amorphous boron–carbon (a‐BC), amorphous carbon–nitrogen (a‐CN), and amorphous boron–carbon–nitrogen (a‐BCN) thin films were deposited by reactive radio‐frequency (RF) sputtering at room temperature. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used for structural and chemical characterization of the films. These spectroscopy techniques revealed the formation of different chemical bonds such as C˭N and B–N in the a‐BCN, C˭N and C≡N bonds in the a‐CN, and finally B–C bonds in the a‐BC thin films. When nitrogen gas is introduced into the chamber to deposit a‐BCN films, the carbon atoms are preferentially bonded to nitrogen atoms forming especially sp2 C˭N rather than sp3 C–N bonds. In the a‐CN films, the content of the C≡N bonds is found to be more important than that of the C˭N double bonds. Carbon clusters are always present in the deposited films as observed by XPS.