| Summary: | In this work, the hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbon nitride (a-SiCN:H) thin films were grown by PECVD from the discharge of silane (SiH4), methane (CH4) and nitrogen (N2) gases. Thereafter, the stability of the bonding and microstructural properties with respect to the effects of aging (under atmospheric environment) and thermal annealing (under low and high N2 flow-rates) were investigated by using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and micro Raman scattering techniques. Analyses on the as-prepared films showed that the Si[sbnd]H, Si-OH, C[sbnd]H and N[sbnd]H vibrational bonds were stable even through prolong aging while that of Si[sbnd]C[sbnd]N and C[sbnd]N bonds increased and Si[sbnd]N bonds decreased after aging. Meanwhile, low temperature annealing were found to improve the film structure due to the out-diffusion process of N atoms from weak Si[sbnd]N and C[sbnd]N bonds and migration of these N atoms to form strong Si[sbnd]N and C[sbnd]N bonds as well as restructuring of dangling bonds to form new Si[sbnd]C bonds. Additionally, the graphitic phase was more prominent in the film grown at low N2 flow-rate upon annealing, especially when annealed at low temperature. The C[sbnd]N bonds in the graphitic phase were found to be weak and released N atoms even when annealed at low temperature. However, high temperature annealing was shown to remove the graphitic phases in the film structure. © 2017 Elsevier B.V.
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