Amorphous silicon carbonitride thin‐film coatings produced by remote nitrogen microwave plasma chemical vapour deposition using organosilicon precursor

Amorphous silicon carbonitride (a‐SiCN) films were produced by remote nitrogen plasma chemical vapour deposition (RP‐CVD) from bis(dimethylamino)methylsilane precursor. The effect of substrate temperature ( T S ) on the kinetics of RP‐CVD, chemical structure, surface morphology and some properties of the resulting films is reported. The T S dependence of film growth rate implies that RP‐CVD is an adsorption‐controlled process. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic examination revealed that an increase in T S from 30 to 400°C involves the elimination of organic moieties from the film and the formation of Si─C and Si─N network structure. The films were characterized in terms of their surface roughness and basic physical and optical properties, such as density and refractive index, respectively. Reasonably good relationships between the structural parameters represented by relative integrated intensity of infrared absorption bands from the Si─C and Si─N bonds (controlled by T S ) and the film properties are determined. Due to their small surface roughness, high density and high refractive index, the a‐SiCN films produced at T S ≥ 350°C would seem to be useful protective coatings for metals and optical devices.