Films were produced by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) of tetramethylsilane (TMS) -helium-argon mixtures with either oxygen or nitrogen in a vacuum system fed with radiofrequency power. Actinometric optical emission spectroscopy was used to determine trends in the concentrations of plasma species of interest (H, CH, O, CO, and CN) as a function of the ratio of the inorganic reactive gas (oxygen or nitrogen) to the monomer (TMS) in the system feed. As the ratio of oxygen to TMS in the feed is increased, the degree of oxygenation of the deposited material, as revealed by transmission infrared spectroscopy, is also increased. Similarly, the degree of nitrogenation of the films increases with increasing nitrogen to monomer ratio in the feed. Strong correlations exist between the plasma concentrations of the above-mentioned plasma species and film structure and composition. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.361118731879