Premium
Quantitative REELS of amorphous carbon and carbon nitride films
Author(s) -
Prieto P.,
Quirós C.,
Elizalde E.,
Sanz J. M.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/sia.1773
Subject(s) - electron energy loss spectroscopy , amorphous carbon , amorphous solid , carbon fibers , dielectric , carbon film , reflection (computer programming) , materials science , analytical chemistry (journal) , nitride , electron , atomic physics , chemistry , thin film , physics , crystallography , transmission electron microscopy , nanotechnology , optoelectronics , composite material , chromatography , layer (electronics) , composite number , computer science , programming language , quantum mechanics
The dielectric properties of amorphous carbon (a‐C) and carbon nitride in the 3 to 80 eV energy range were determined by quantitative analysis of reflection electron energy‐loss spectroscopy (REELS) spectra of these films. The energy loss function (ELF) of each material has been obtained by a trial‐and‐error procedure, when a good quantitative agreement between the simulated and experimental electron inelastic cross‐sections at three different primary energies (i.e. 0.5, 1 and 1.5 keV) is achieved. Kramers–Kronig transformation is then used to obtain the dielectric function. The loss functions of a‐C and CN x are characterized by two main features which result from collective excitations of the π and the π + σ electrons, respectively. The incorporation of nitrogen in the amorphous carbon matrix is discussed in terms of changes in the dielectric function. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.