Mechanical and Tribological Properties of Thin Remote Microwave Plasma CVD a -Si:N:C Films from a Single-Source Precursor

Author： Bielinski D.

Publisher： Springer Publishing Company

ISSN： 1023-8883

Source： Tribology Letters, Vol.13, Iss.2, 2002-08, pp. : 71-76

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Abstract

Silicon carbonitride (a-Si:N:C) films produced by remote plasma chemical vapor deposition (RP-CVD) were investigated. Tetramethyldisilazane as a single-source precursor and (H₂+N₂) upstream gas mixture for plasma generation were used. The influence of the upstream gas composition on the structure, density, mechanical and tribological properties of the films deposited on p-type Si (001) wafers (both heated—T_s=300°C and unheated—T_s=30°C) are reported. The H₂ RP-CVD process was found to result in the formation of outstanding low friction (≈0.04) and high hardness (H=27-31 GPa) a-Si:N:C films exhibiting promisingly high H/E values.