Effect of Nitrogen Content on the Mechanical Properties of Amorphous SiCN Films

Abstract:

Amorphous silicon carbonitride (a-SiC_xN_y) thin films were deposited using reactive magnetron sputtering of SiC target in the mixture of Ar and N gasses. The films with nitrogen content from 0 - 40 at.% were sputtered at various N₂/Ar flow ratios in the range of 0 - 0.48. The as deposited films were additionally annealed in argon at 700 °C and vacuum at 900 °C. Analysis of mechanical properties was performed using the regular nanoindentation and short duration nanoindentation creep test (600 s).Hardness of the a-SiC_xN_y films increases with the decrease of nitrogen content from approx. 19 GPa (a-Si₃₀C₃₀N₄₀) to 22 GPa (a-SiC). Annealing of the films in inert atmosphere or vacuum leads to the increase of both the hardness and the elastic modulus. This increase is more pronounced for the SiC film than for the SiCN films. The nanoindentation creep test (600 s) showed that the rate of the steady-state creep growths with the increase of nitrogen content.

• Periodical: Key Engineering Materials (Volume 662)
• Pages: 95-98
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.662.95
• Online since: September 2015
• Authors: Radim Čtvrtlík, Valeriy Kulikovsky, Jan Tomaštík
• Keywords: Creep, Elastic Modulus, Hardness, Mechanical Properties, SiCN Thin Films

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