The physical, optical, and mechanical properties of silicon carbonitride (Si:C:N) films produced by the remote nitrogen plasma chemical vapor deposition (R-P-CVD) from tetramethyldisilazane have been investigated in relation to their chemical composition and structure. The films deposited at different substrate temperature (30-400 degrees C) were characterized in terms of their density, refractive index, hardness, elastic modulus, and friction coefficient. The correlations between the film compositional parameters, expressed by the atomic concentration ratios N / Si, C / Si, and N/C, as well as structural parameters described by the relative integrated intensities of the infrared absorption bands from the Si-N, Si-C, and SiMe units (controlled by substrate temperature) were investigated. On the basis of the results of these studies, reasonable structure-property relationships have been determined. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.