Silicon carbon nitride thin films have been deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering of silicon and graphite targets in mixed Ar/N-2 atmosphere at substrate temperature of 300 degreesC. The substrate bias voltage varied from -50 up to +50 V and the nitrogen flow rate varied from 0 to 20 seem. The as-deposited films were analyzed by Raman spectroscopy (RS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The Raman analyses show that the film without nitrogen incorporation has mixed sp(2)-sp(3)-hybridized carbon structures while those with nitrogen introduction give rise to nitrogen-bound sp(1)-, sp(2)- and sp(3)-coordinated carbon structures as well as Si-N phase. The change of the D band position (similar to1360 cm(-1)), FWHM and its relative intensity with respect to the G band (similar to1595 cm(-1)), I-D/I-G, seem to be correlated with the formation of these phases and therefore to the deposition conditions. XPS analyses not only confirm the bonding natures revealed by Raman spectroscopy, but also give quantitatively the relative importance of the phases. It was shown that the area ratio of the nitrogen-bound sp(3)- to Sp(2)-coordinated carbon bonds is: 1.41:1.38:1.8:3.19 and that of Si-N bonds to (Si-N+Si-C) bonds is 0.4:0.5:0.9:1 for the Si-C-N films prepared with 5, 10, 15 and 20 seem nitrogen flow rate, respectively. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.