Photomechanical response of amorphous carbon nitride thin films

Abstract

Amorphous carbon nitride, a-CN_x, thin films are well known as a hard coating material with a low friction coefficient. But, there are still many findings concerning the electrical and optical properties of a-CN_x films, which are characterized by a wide variety of structures depending on the deposition techniques and conditions. In this study, we introduce one of the unique properties, a photoinduced deformation of a-CN_x film deposited by reactive radio frequency magnetron sputtering using a graphite target and pure nitrogen gas.