Amorphous silicon carbon nitride films grown by the pulsed laser deposition of a SiC-Si3N4 mixed target

We grew amorphous SiCN films by pulsed laser deposition using mixed targets. The targets were fabricated by compacting a mixture of SiC and Si3N4 powders. We controlled the film stoichiometry by varying the mixing ratio of the target and the target-to-substrate distance. The mixing ratio of the target had a dominant effect on the film composition. We consider the structures of the SiCN films deposited using 30 similar to 70 wt.% SiC in the target to be an intermediate phase of SiC and SiNx. This provides the possibility of growing homogeneous SiCN films with a mixed target at a moderate target-to-substrate distance.