Properties of Copper nitride thin films deposited using a pulsed hollow cathode discharge

Abstract

Copper nitride (Cu₃N) thin films were deposited on a glass substrates using pulsed hollow cathode discharge (PHCD). The deposition was performed at 4kV charging voltage, and nitrogen gas pressure of 10^-2 torr. The structure of the thin films was identified by X-Ray diffraction (XRD) technique. The XRD measurements indicated that the thin films have a nanocrystalline nature and exhibit orientation at (111) phase of Cu₃N. The grain size of the nanocrystalline films ranged from 41 nm to 80 nm. The optical band gaps were measured using UV Visa NIR spectrophotometer and Touc's equation. The optical band gaps of the films decreased from 2.55 eV to 2.25 eV by increasing the number of deposition shots from 20 to 80 shots. The surface morphology was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The SEM image indicates that the film have facetted surface morphology packed particles.