High purity Si-C-N thin films with tailored composition on the tie line SiC-Si3N4

Si-C-N thin films with tailored stoichiometries on the tie line SiC-Si3N4 have been produced by severalfold ion implantation and by a combination of RF magnetron sputtering and ion implantation, respectively. These high purity thin films have been heat treated at 1250 degrees C under high vacuum conditions using an electron beam annealing system to enable crystallisation and/or phase formation. Fourier transform infrared spectrometry as well as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy suggests the formation of an amorphous network of mixed Si(C,N)(4) tetrahedrons for the ternary compositions and evince the crystallisation of the binary SiC and Si3N4 thin films. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.