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Copper Nitride Nanocrystalline Thin Film Growth by Pulsed Plasma Deposition
Khaled Hussien Metwaly and Y.H. Elbashar
Thin films of copper nitride (Cu3N) were obtained by the pulsed plasma deposition on glass substrates. The deposition was performed at 4kV charging voltage and nitrogen gas pressure of 10-2 torr. The structure of the thin films was investigated by X-Ray diffraction (XRD) technique. The formed nanocrystalline material exhibits the (111) phase of Cu3N orientation. The grain size of the nanocrystalline films range from 41 nm to 80 nm. The optical band gaps were measured using UV-NIR spectrophotometer and the Touc’s equation. The optical band gaps of the films decreases from 2.55 eV to 2.25 eV with the increasing number of deposition shots from 20 to 80 shots. The surface morphology was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). SEM image indicates that the film exhibits the facetted surface morphology of packed particles.
Keywords: Plasma deposition, thin film, Copper nitride