Abstract
Amorphous hydrogenated silicon oxocarbonitride (SiCNO:H) films have been deposited by plasmaβassisted chemical vapour deposition (PACVD) using bis(trimethylsilyl)carbodiimide (BTSC) as a single source precursor in a argon (Ar) radioβfrequency plasma. In this work the SiCNO:H films deposited at different deposition temperatures were studied in terms of deposition rate, refractive index, surface roughness, microstructure, and chemical composition including bonding state. The results showed that a higher deposition temperature enhanced the formation of SiβN bonds, and disfavoured the formation of N=C=N, SiβNCN, CβH and SiβCH~3~ bonds. A higher deposition temperature also decreased the deposition rate and increased the refractive index of the resulting SiCNO:H film. With increasing temperature a denser film was formed, indicating a change of the deposition mechanism, i.e., transformation from particle precipitation to heterogeneous surface reaction. Except for the coatings deposited at room temperature, the surface of the films was smooth with a roughness of around 4 nm at the centre in the range of 5 ΞΌm x 5 ΞΌm area. Moreover, the films contained 8 βΌ 16 at.% oxygen bonded to Si, which originated from the remnant H~2~O in the deposition chamber.