Abstract：Nitrogenated tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C∶N) films were prepared on the polished C—Si substrates by introducing highly pure nitrogen gas into the cathode region and the depositing chamber synchronously using filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA) technology. The nitrogen content in the films was controlled by changing the flow rate of nitrogen gas. The configuration of ta-C∶N films was investigated by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and visible Raman spectroscopy. It was shown that the nitrogen content in the films increased from 0.84 at% to 5.37 at% monotonously when the nitrogen flow rate was varied from 2 sccm to 20 sccm. The peak position of C(1s) core level moved towards higher binding energy with the increase in nitrogen content. The shift of C(1s) peak position could be ascribed to the chemical bonding between carbon and nitrogen atoms even though more three-fold coordinated sp2 configuration as in graphite was formed when the films were doped with more nitrogen atoms. Additionally, the half width of C(1s) peak gradually was also broadened with increasing nitrogen content. In order to discover clearly the changing regularities of the microstructure of the films, the XPS C(1s) spectra and Raman spectra were deconvoluted using a Gaussian-Lorentzian mixed lineshape. It was shown that the tetrahedral hybridization component was still dominant even though the ratio of sp2/sp3 obtained from C(1s) spectra rose with the increase in nitrogen content. The Raman measurements demonstrated that the G peak position shifted towards higher frequency from 1 561 to 1 578 cm-1 and the ratio of ID/IG also rose with the increase in nitrogen content. Both results indicated that the graphitizing tendency could occur with the increase in nitrogen content in the films.
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