Aid of Scaling Laws in the Achievement of a Well-Controlled Film Deposition Process

Abstract

Scaling laws are profitably applied in all the scientific disciplines. Approximated solutions constitute a valuable aid for the analysis of complex systems and physical processes and, generally, for handling problems involving many variables. We indicate the path for deriving a scaling law for the growth parameters, referring to the synthesis of hydrogenated amorphous carbon-nitrides (a-CN:H ) by reactive sputtering as an example. Thanks to its generality, the semi–empirical method utilised here can be applied to all carbon–based materials and all deposition techniques. We demonstrate the existence of an analytical dependence of the film physical properties, as resulting from Raman analysis and Rutherford backscattering measurements, on a single dimensionless combination of the growth parameters. We give an empirical rule for tailoring the film characteristics through specific changes of the deposition conditions. We thus achieve the capability of easily predicting and controlling the final issue of the synthesis process.