Hard plasmachemical a-SiCN coatings

Abstract

The amorphous SiCN coatings have been plasmachemically (PECVD) deposited onto silicon substrates using the heksamethyldisylazan as the basic precursor. The effect of the deposition temperature on the structure, chemical composition, and mechanical properties of the coatings has been studied. It has been found that at temperatures below 400°C the deposition of hydrogenated amorphous SiCN (a-SiCN:H) coatings, whose hardness does not exceed 23 GPa, takes place. At the further increase of the temperature the distribution of the Si–C, Si–N, and C–N strong bonds in coatings does not practically change, while the number of C–H, Si–H and N–H weak hydrogen bonds decreases. As a result of such a redistribution of chemical bonds, at the temperature 600–700°C a-SiCN coatings are deposited with hardness up to 32 GPa. The annealing in vacuum at 1200°C is shown not to noticeably affect the structure, hardness, and elastic modulus of a-SiCN coatings.