Hard silicon carbonitride thin‐film coatings produced by remote hydrogen plasma chemical vapor deposition using aminosilane and silazane precursors. 1: Deposition mechanism, chemical structure, and surface morphology

Abstract

Amorphous silicon carbonitride films were produced by remote hydrogen microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition (RP-CVD) using aminosilanes: (dimethylamino) dimethylsilane, bis(dimethylamino)methylsilane, and tris(dimethylamino)silane, as well as disilazanes: 1,1,3,3-tetramethyldisilazane and 1,3-bis(dimethylsilyl)-2,2,4,4-tetramethylcyclodisilazane as single-source precursors. The effect of substrate temperature (T S ) on the rate and yield of the RP-CVD process, chemical composition, chemical structure, and surface morphology of resulting films is reported. The temperature dependencies of thickness-based growth rate and growth yield of the film imply that for a low substrate temperature range (T S = 30-200°C), deposition rate and yield are limited by desorption of film-forming precursors from a growth surface, whereas for a high substrate temperature range (T S = 200-400°C), the rate and yield values, independent of the temperature, are nearly constant and the RP-CVD is a nonthermally activated process.The increase of the substrate temperature from 30°C to 400°C causes the elimination of organic groups from the film and the formation of a silicon carbonitride network structure with a predominant content of Si-N nitridic and Si-C carbidic bonds. On the basis of structural study and literature data, hypothetical elementary reactions contributing to the film formation process are postulated. The films were found to be morphologically homogeneous, defect-free materials exhibiting very small surface roughness, which varied in a narrow range of values.

1,4-Bis(trimethylsilyl)piperazine—Thermal Properties and Application as CVD Precursor

“…The desired properties of SiC x N y films are achieved by the optimization of the deposition process, including the choice of the proper precursor and deposition parameters. (b) Given that the properties of the films, in addition to the above parameters, are affected by the geometry of the reactor, it is interesting to identify the influence of the design of the precursors in a series of works in which the processes using various organosilicon compounds were studied with the same experimental setup [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. (c) Films obtained at low synthesis temperatures (below 300 • C) and a low input power of plasma are a polymer-like hydrogenated material.…”

“…They contain organic functionalities, such as Si-CH 3 , CH x , NH x and Si-H bonds. The compositions of these films are described by the general formula of SiC x N y (O z ):H. The high input power or the high substrate temperature contribute to the destruction of organic groups and hydrogen-containing bonds and to the formation of a silicon carbonitride network, leading to the growth in the density of SiC x N y films [15]. (d) High decomposition temperatures (≥500 • C) of the precursor promote the appearance of an additional phase of amorphous graphite-like carbon in the films.…”

“…A smooth change in the element composition of the films makes tuning the functional performance possible, such as the refractive index and band gap. (i) The increase in the content of Si−C bonds in a-SiCN films causes an increase in their density, refractive index, adhesive critical load, hardness, elastic modulus and plasticity index [15,16]. (j) A limited number of works are devoted to studying the aging and stability of the composition and functional properties of silicon carbonitride films during storage in air and upon annealing.…”

Amorphous silicon carbonitride (a‐SiCN) thin film coatings by remote plasma chemical vapor deposition using organosilicon precursor: Effect of substrate temperature

“…[41] In recent papers we have summarized the most important results of our study, on the formation of a-SiCN films of very useful properties by remote microwave hydrogen plasma CVD using methylsilazane and methylaminosilane precursors and hydrogen as an upstream gas for plasma generation. [42,43] The aim of these reviews was to show the effect of molecular structure of the precursor on the chemical structure and properties of resulting a-SiCN films.…”

A Versatile Equilibrium Method for the Synthesis of High-Strength, Ladder-like Polyphenylsilsesquioxanes with Finely Tunable Molecular Parameters

“…It is worth noting separately that ammonia is used in the treatment and modification of polymers [37]. In organosilicon chemistry, ammonia is a key reagent in the synthesis of silazanes, an important class of organosilicon compounds [40].…”