Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. 47, 22820 (2009)
https://doi.org/10.1051/epjap/2009079

Deposition of functional hydrogenated amorphous carbon-nitride film (a-CN:H) using C₂H₄/N₂ townsend dielectric barrier discharge

¹ Université de Toulouse, UPS, INPT, LAPLACE – Laboratoire Plasma et Conversion d'Énergie, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
² CNRS, LAPLACE, 31062 Toulouse, France
³ University Hospital Research Center CHUQ, St-Francois d'Assise Hospital, 10 rue de l'Espinay, G1L3L5, Quebec, Canada
⁴ Surface Engineering Laboratory, CERMA, Department of Mining, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Université Laval, G1V 0A6, Quebec, Canada
⁵ CNRS, PROMES, Tecnosud, 66100 Perpignan, France

Corresponding author: christian.sarra-bournet.1@ulaval.ca

Received: 6 January 2009
Accepted: 2 March 2009
Published online: 28 April 2009

Abstract

The present work is an investigation of the chemical composition and growth profile of an hydrogenated amorphous carbon nitride film (a-CN:H) deposited by atmospheric pressure Townsend discharge in C₂H₄/N₂. Various surface characterization techniques were used to evaluate the coatings properties (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, Profilometry, Scanning Electron Microscopy). The coating obtained presented a high N/C ratio and a high concentration of N-functionalities. The results revealed two different growth mechanisms depending on the residence time of the precursor molecules; at first, the growth is mainly due to radicals then a powder formation mechanism appears, therefore leading to different chemical composition and surface properties.