Nitrogen-incorporated tetrahedral amorphous carbon (Ta-C(N)) films are emerging materials synthesized in the studies on the preparation of β-C

3

N

4

films

and they are interesting materials with various applications including electrochemistry. Ta-C(N) films shown unusual durability and enhanced catalytic efficiency in some important instance over boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrodes

and their potential window.in acid media even wider than that of BDD. In particular

Ta-C(N) films can be prepared under ambient conditions whereas BDD films require high substrate temperatures (850~900℃) and the nucleation is difficult. The ambient conditions allow for a much wider range of substrates and provide a surface finish smooth on the atomic level

in contrast to the microcrystalline nature of BDD. So

Ta-C(N) is compatible to application such as microelectronics and microelectromechanical systems. Some properties such as nitrogen content

sp

3

/sp

2

ratio and other conditions have effect on the electrochemical behavior of.Ta-C(N) films. The filtered cathodic vacuum arc deposition (FCVAP) technique is an efficient method for producing maeroparticle free and smooth Ta-C(N) films at ambient temperature. In this paper

Ta-C(N) films were synthesized on polished Si substrates at different nitrogen partial pressure with home made magnetically filtered cathodic vacuum arc deposition apparatus. In this apparatus

A curved 90~ solenoid was employed to reduce macroparticles and guide the carbon arc plasma which produced with a high-purity sintered graphite cathode into the deposition chamber

and the partial pressure of nitrogen in the chamber was controlled by the inlet of nitrogen gas through a leak valve and was monitored by an ion gauge. For investigating the effect of nitrogen partial pressure on the nitrogen content and sp

3

/sp

2

ration

Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) methods were employed. The Raman and XPS results shown that N/C atomic ratios of the films increased from 0.098 to 0.311 with rising nitrogen partial pressure in deposition chamber whereas the sp

3

/sp

2

ratio of the films decreased

but the deposition rate decreased with rising pressure

and nitrogen atoms in the films combined with carbon atoms mainly with C=N bond.