Ammonia-free deposition of silicon nitride (SiNX) films have been achieved on Si(100) substrate at low temperature (200 degrees C) by using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. operated at near atmospheric pressure. A pulsed power supply enables a stable discharge of a SiH4-H-2-N-2 system at near atmospheric pressures without using any inert gases such as He. Characterization by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy indicates that the grown film is a SiNx film with its N/Si ratio varying for 0.85-0.90, depending on the N-2/SiH4 flow ratio (1000-4000). Despite the use of N-2 instead of NH3, a high rate growth (10-70 nm/min) is enabled, which would be beneficial in forming protection/passivation layers in solar cells. The breakdown field of 7.4 MV/cm seems also promising for its use as a gate insulator in amorphous-silicon-based thin film transistors (TFTs). (C) 2009 American Vacuum Society. [DOI: 10.1116/1.3021039]