Remote hydrogen microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition of silicon carbonitride films from a (dimethylamino)dimethylsilane precursor: Compositional and structural dependencies of film properties

The physical, optical, and mechanical properties of amorphous hydrogenated silicon carbonitride (a-Si:C:N:H) films produced by the remote hydrogen plasma chemical vapor deposition (RP-CVD) from (dimethylamino)dimethylsilane have been investigated in relation to their chemical composition and structure. The films deposited at different substrate temperature (30–400 °C) were characterized in terms of their density, refractive index, adhesion to a substrate, hardness, elastic modulus, friction coefficient, and resistance to wear predicted from the “plasticity index” values. The correlations between the film compositional parameters, expressed by the atomic concentration ratios N/Si and C/Si, as well as structural parameters described by the relative integrated intensities of the absorption IR bands from the Si–N, Si–C, and C–N bonds, and the XPS Si2p band from the Si–C bonds (controlled by substrate temperature) were investigated. On the basis of the results of these studies, reasonable compositional and structural dependencies of film properties have been determined.