Remote hydrogen microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition of silicon carbonitride films from a (dimethylamino)dimethylsilane precursor: Characterization of the process, chemical structure, and surface morphology of the films

Amorphous hydrogenated silicon carbonitride (a-Si:C:N:H) films were produced by remote microwave hydrogen plasma CVD (RP-CVD) using (dimethylamino)dimethylsilane as single-source precursor. The effect of the substrate temperature (TS) on the rate and yield of the RP-CVD process, chemical composition, chemical structure, and surface morphology of resulting film is reported. The temperature dependencies of the mass- and thickness-based growth rate and growth yield of the film imply that for low substrate temperature range (TS = 30–100 °C) film growth is limited by desorption of film-forming precursors, whereas in high substrate temperature range (TS = 100–400 °C) film growth is independent of the temperature and RP-CVD is mass-transport limited process. The increase of the substrate temperature from 30 to 400 °C causes the elimination of organic moieties from the film and the formation of Si–N and Si–C network structures. The films were found to be morphologically homogeneous materials exhibiting very small surface roughness, which vary in a narrow range of values.