Removal of oxide ions from ruthenium oxide films by pill injection of nitrogen

We used the Plasma Immersion Ion Implantation (PIII) technique to implant nitrogen into the rutile RuO
₂
] as-deposited film structure. We investigated the crystallographic structure of deposited and implanted RuO
₂
] film material by XRD measurements. XPS deep profile measurements showed compositional changes due to nitrogen implantation. We measured colour changes and nano-hardness of as-deposited films as , well as the films after implantation with nitrogen. We found changes in the film material after PIII process towards the metallic based Ru structure with decreasing nano-hardness along with changes in the colour properties of Ru films. Process can be use for removal of oxide ions from the RuO
₂
] thin film structure,