The silicon carbonitride films were synthesised by remote plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (RPECVD) using a mixture of ammonia, helium and hexamethyldisilazane Si2NH(CH3)(6) as the volatile single-source precursor, Different analysis techniques such as IR, Raman spectroscopy, ellipsometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, EDS, scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution electron microscopy. selective area electron diffraction and X-ray diffraction using synchrotron radiation were used to study their physical and chemical properties. The formation of chemical bonding was shown to Occur between Si, C, N atoms in the ternary compound. The chemical composition of these films depended mainly on the ammonia concentration in the gaseous phase. It was established that there is a distribution of nanocrystals in the amorphous matrix in these films. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.