Study of Amorphous Carbon Nitride Films Aiming at White Light Emitting Devices

The possibility for white light emitting devices using carbon nitride (CN x ) thin films has been studied. Microwave electron cyclotron resonance (ECR)–plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and RF-sputtering apparatuses have been used for the formation of CN x thin films. In both cases, CH 4 was used as the source or sub-source of carbon in order to investigate the effect of hydrogenated carbon nitride for luminescence. The cathodoluminescence (CL) measurement of the film grown by ECR–plasma CVD method showed three peaks of red, green, and blue (R/G/B). The photoluminescence (PL) measurement of the film grown by RF-sputtering also showed the red peak, which could not be observed in the film without hydrogen. Together with the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis data, we concluded that the red peak originates from the level relating to H atom and blue peak from C–N bonds.