X-ray diffraction studies of the effects of N incorporation in amorphous CNx, materials

The effects of nitrogen incorporation on the atomic-scale structure of amorphous CNx samples have been studied for 0, 5, 20, and 30 at. % N concentration, by x-ray diffraction. Significant differences in the structure are observed on the incorporation of only 5 at. % N, and the changes in structure continue as further N is added. From the experimental data, we are able to obtain directly the average bond distances and then calculate the average bond angles for each of the samples. The average first neighbor distance shows a gradual decrease from 1.55 A for 0 at. % N, to 1.44 A for 30 at. % N, and a similar trend is observed in the position of the second neighbor peak. This gives a corresponding increase in the average bond angle from 108° to 114°. The results show an increase in the fraction of sp2 bonded carbon atoms with increasing N concentration, and there is evidence for the presence of significant numbers of C≡N and C=N bonds. These results are also consistent with stress, hardness, and optical gap ...