The Influence of Carbon on the Structure and Photoluminescence of Amorphous Silicon Carbonitride Thin Films

A systematic study on silicon carbonitride matrices has been carried out to determine contributions of carbon on their luminescence process, chemical composition, and electronic structural properties. Thin films were deposited by electron cyclotron resonance plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition using SiH4, N2, and CH4 process gases. The film structure and composition were determined through Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), elastic recoil detection (ERD), photoluminescence (PL), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). It was confirmed that increases in carbon concentration resulted in the enhancement of the photoluminescence properties broadly spread over the visible range.