材料期刊网

Silicon carbonitride thin films,were synthesized by reactive rf sputtering a silicon carbide target in nitrogen and argon atmosphere, or sputtering a silicon nitride target in methane and argon atmosphere, respectively. The Nanoindentation technique (Nanoindenter XP system with a continuous stiffness measurement technique) was employed to measure the hardness and elastic modulus of thin films. The effects of sputtering power on the mechanical properties are different for the two SiCN thin films. With increasing sputtering power, the hardness and the elastic modulus decrease for, the former but increase for the latter. The tendency is similar to the evolution trend of Si-C bonds in SiCN materials. This reflects that Si-C bonds provide greater hardness for SiCN thin films than Si-N and C-N bonds.