Abstract: The carbon nitride films deposited by RF magnetron sputtering in a pure N₂ discharge were annealed in vacuum up to 900 ℃. The chemical bonding of the films was studied using X-ray photoelectron spectros copy and Raman spectra. It was found that the nitrogen atoms were bound to sp, sp² and sp³ hybridized carbon atoms in as-deposited films. The effects of the thermal annealing on the bonding structure and the electron field emission characteristics of CN_x films were investigated.

Key words: RF magnetron sputtering, CN_x film, annealing temperature, electron field emission