Issue Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. Volume 47, Number 2, August 2009 11th International Symposium on High Pressure, Low Temperature Plasma Chemistry (HAKONE XI) Article Number 22820 Number of page(s) 6 Section 11th International Symposium on High Pressure, Low Temperature Plasma Chemistry (HAKONE XI) DOI 10.1051/epjap/2009079 Published online 28 April 2009

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

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

C. Sarra-Bournet^{1, 2, 3, 4}, N. Gherardi^{1, 2}, S. Turgeon³, G. Laroche^{3, 4} and F. Massines<sup>5

1</sup>  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

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.

PACS
52.80.Dy - Low-field and Townsend discharges .
52.77.Dq - Plasma-based ion implantation and deposition.
68.37.-d - Microscopy of surfaces, interfaces, and thin films.
68.55.-a - Thin film structure and morphology.

© EDP Sciences 2009

What is OpenURL?