Hydrogenated silicon carbon nitride films obtained by HWCVD, PA-HWCVD and PECVD techniques

Hydrogenated silicon carbon nitride (SiCN:H) thin film alloys were produced by hot wire (HWCVD), plasma assisted hot wire (PA-HWCVD) and plasma enhanced chemical vapor (PECVD) deposition techniques using a Ni buffer layer as catalyst for inducing crystallization. The silicon carbon nitride films were grown using C2H4, SiH4 and NH3 gas mixtures and a deposition temperature of 300 degrees C. Prior to the deposition of the SiCN:H film a hydrogen etching of 10 min was performed in order to etch the catalyst material and to facilitate the crystallization. We report the influence of each deposition process on compositional, structural and morphological properties of the films. Scanning Electron Microscope-SEM and Atomic Force Measurement-AFM images show their morphology; the chemical composition was obtained by Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry-RBS, Elastic Recoil Detection-ERD and the structure by Infrared-IR analysis. The thickness of the catalyst material determines the growth process and whether or not islands form. The production of micro-structured SiCN:H films is also dependent on the gas pressure, gas mixture and deposition process used. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.