Copper nitride films deposited by dc reactive magnetron sputtering

Copper nitride (Cu3N) films were deposited on glass substrates by sputtering of copper target under various substrate temperatures in the range 303-523 K using dc reactive magnetron sputtering. The substrate temperature highly influenced the structural, mechanical, electrical and optical properties of the deposited films. The X-ray diffraction measurements showed that the films were of polycrystalline nature and exhibit preferred orientation of (111) phase of Cu3N. The microhardness of the films increased from 2.7 to 4.4 GPa with the increase of substrate temperature from 303 to 473 K thereafter decreased to 4.1 GPa at higher temperature of 523 K. The electrical resistivity of the films decreased from 8.7 x 10(-1) to 1.1 x 10(-3) Omega cm and the optical band gap decreased from 1.89 to 1.54 eV with the increase of substrate temperature from 303 to 523 K respectively.