Amorphous silicon carbonitride a‐SiCN thin film coatings by remote plasma chemical vapor deposition using organosilicon precursor: Effect of plasma composition

Abstract

Our study on amorphous hydrogenated silicon carbonitride thin films produced by remote plasma chemical vapor deposition (RP-CVD) from 1,1,3,3tetramethyldisilazane as a single-source compound using the H 2 + N 2 upstream-gas-mixture for generation of microwave plasma are reviewed. The effect of nitrogen content in the H 2 + N 2 mixture fed to a plasma on the rate and yield of the RP-CVD process, chemical structure, surface morphology, and properties of a-SiCN films deposited at a constant substrate temperature of T S = 300°C is described. The deposited films were characterized in terms of their chemical structure, surface roughness, density, refractive index, hardness, elasticity, resistance to wear, and friction coefficient. Due to their properties, a-SiCN films appear to be very promising coatings for improving the surface mechanics of engineering materials used in advanced technologies. K E Y W O R D S remote plasma chemical vapor deposition, silicon carbonitride film, tetramethyldisilazane, thin film chemical structure and properties