Generally

silicon carbon nitride(SiCN) thin films have attracted much interest for a wide rang of applications due to their excellent thermal properties

large bonding energy and adjustable band gaps varying from UV to visible light range.Hydrogenated amorphous silicon nitride films(a-SiN

x

:H) were implanted by C

+

ions with 30 keV and the doping dose of 210

17

ions cm

-2

at room temperature and then treated by annealing for 2 hours at 800

1000 and 1200℃

respectively.The composition and bonding structure of SiCN were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS)

Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction(XRD).The luminescent properties of SiCN have been studied by synchrotron radiation at RT and 20 K

respectively.XPS results showed that the CSi

C=N and SiN bonds existed in the films.When the films were annealed at 800℃ for 2 hours

two structures could be found at different depths.SiC and SiN

x

were found in the depth range of 50~100 nm

while the SiC

x

N

y

still existed at the depth of 250 nm.And the Raman spectrum of the SiCN film shows two peaks at approximately 1350 and 1600 cm

-1

which corresponded to D and G bands of sp

2

-carbon.The presence of this pronounced Raman band indicates SiC

x

N

y

structure within the film.Furthermore

XRD indicated that the SiCN films annealed at 1200℃ consisted of the structures of -Si

3

N

4

-Si

3

N

4

and -SiC.After SiCN was annealed at 800℃

four luminescent emission bands of SiCN under the excitation of 197 nm at 20 K were observed

which were located at 2.95

2.58

2.29 and 2.12 eV and were attributed to the emissions of SiN

x

SiC

x

N

y

SiC and SiO

x

respectively.However

after the film was annealed at 1200℃

for the modification of particle state and the improvement of film structures

the inten-sity of luminescence signals at 2.58 and 2.29 eV were different.The PL signature in SiCN films can be used to monitor the physical structure

and to point out their defect content.