Hydrogenated amorphous silicon nitride (a-SiN:H)films were deposited by hot wire chemical vapour deposition (HWCVD) using SiH4 and NH3 as precursor gases. Fourier transmission infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques were used to study the chemical and electronic environments of silicon and nitrogen atoms. The peak position of N (1s) shifts from 396.7 eV to 401.7 eV and FWHM increases from 1.32 eV to 1.51 eV as nitrogen content in a-SiN:H films increases from 39 at.% to 75 at.%. During the present investigation, it was observed that silicon network shifted to higher energy and, both the short-range order (SRO) and intermediate-range order (IRO) were found deteriorate due to incorporation of nitrogen in the silicon network. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.