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Silicon nitride

About: Silicon nitride is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 32678 publications have been published within this topic receiving 413599 citations. The topic is also known as: N₄Si₃.


Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
Hagen Klemm1
TL;DR: In this article, a summary of the development of high-temperature silicon nitride (T>1200°C) is provided, where the influence of various sintering additive systems is evaluated with focus on the high temperature potential of the resulting materials.
Abstract: In this paper, a summary of the development of high-temperature silicon nitride (T>1200°C) is provided. The high-temperature capacity of various advanced commercial silicon nitrides and materials under development was analyzed in comparison with a silicon nitride without sintering additives produced by hot isostatic pressing. Based on this model Si 3 N 4 composed of only crystalline Si 3 N 4 grains and amorphous silica in the grain boundaries the influence of various sintering additive systems will be evaluated with focus on the high-temperature potential of the resulting materials. The specific design of the amorphous grain-boundary films is the key factor determining the properties at elevated temperatures. Advanced Si 3 N 4 with Lu 2 O 3 or Sc 2 O 3 as sintering additive are characterized by a superior elevated temperature resistance caused by effective crystallization of the grain-boundary phase. Nearly clean amorphous films between the Si 3 N 4 grains comparable to that of Si 3 N 4 without sintering additives were found to be the reason of this behavior. Benefit in the long-term stability of Si 3 N 4 at elevated temperatures was observed in composites with SiC and M o Si 2 caused by a modified oxidation mechanism. The insufficient corrosion stability in hot gas environments at elevated temperatures was found to be the main problem of Si 3 N 4 for application in advanced gas turbines. Progress has been achieved in the development of potential material systems for environmental barrier coatings (EBC) for Si 3 N 4 ; however, the long-term stability of the whole system EBC-base Si 3 N 4 has to be subject of comprehensive future studies. Besides the superior high-temperature properties, the whole application process from cost-effective industrial production, reliability and failure probability, industrial handling up to specific conditions during the application have to be focused in order to bring advanced Si 3 N 4 currently available to industrial application.

323 citations

Patent
12 Aug 1988
TL;DR: An inlet manifold for a vacuum deposition chamber incorporates inlet apertures which increase in diameter or cross-section transverse to the direction of gas flow, which increases the dissociation gases such as nitrogen and thus increases the rate of silicon nitride deposition provided by nitrogen gas chemistry, without requiring the use of reactants such as ammonia as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: An inlet gas manifold for a vacuum deposition chamber incorporates inlet apertures which increase in diameter or cross-section transverse to the direction of gas flow. The aperture configuration increases the dissociation gases such as nitrogen and, thus increases the rate of silicon nitride deposition provided by nitrogen gas chemistry, without requiring the use of reactants such as ammonia. While one could use ammonia in the deposition gas chemistry if desired, the process provides the option of completely eliminating ammonia. The inlet manifold containing the increasing-diameter gas inlet holes provides enhanced control of the process and the deposited film, and is also useful for forming other dielectrics such as silicon oxide and silicon oxynitride. In particular, silicon oxynitride films are characterized by low hydrogen content and by compositional uniformity.

321 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a multielectrode recording array for use in studies of information processing in the central nervous system and in the closed-loop control of neural prostheses is presented.
Abstract: This paper reports the development of a multielectrode recording array for use in studies of information processing in the central nervous system and in the closed-loop control of neural prostheses. The probe utilizes a silicon supporting carrier which is defined using a deep boron diffusion and an anisotropic etch stop. This substrate supports an array of polysilicon or tantalum thin-film conductors insulated above and below with silicon nitride and silicon dioxide. Typical probe dimensions include a length of 3 mm, shank width of 50 µm, and a thickness of 15 µm. These structures are capable of simultaneous high-amplitude multichannel recording of neural activity in the cortex. The probe fabrication process requires only four masks and is single-sided using wafers of normal thickness, resulting in yields which exceed 80 percent. The process is also compatible with the inclusion of on-chip MOS circuitry for signal amplification and multiplexing. A complete ten-channel signal processor which requires only three external probe leads is being developed.

318 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, thin films of Ti-Si-N have been deposited by physical vapor deposition (PVD) with the intention to improve the wear resistance of TiN coatings, and they were prepared by reactive unbalanced magnetron sputtering using two separate Ti and Si targets and a rotating substrate holder.
Abstract: Thin films of Ti–Si–N have been deposited by physical vapor deposition (PVD) with the intention to improve the wear resistance of TiN coatings. The coatings are prepared by reactive unbalanced magnetron sputtering using two separate Ti and Si targets and a rotating substrate holder. The silicon concentration in the deposited films varies between 0 and 15 at.%. SEM observations and X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) show that the addition of Si to TiN coatings transforms the [111] oriented columnar structure into a dense finely grained structure. From TEM investigations and XRD analyses, the crystallite sizes of TiN are observed to be below 20 nm. XPS analysis shows the presence of silicon nitride, while electron and X-ray diffraction results do not suggest the presence of crystalline Si3N4. This result clearly indicates that these films have a composite structure consisting of TiN nanocrystallites embedded in amorphous silicon nitride. The hardness of the nc-TiN/a-SiNx coatings reaches 3500 HV0.1. The abrasion resistance measured by ball cratering can be enhanced by a factor of 6 in comparison with TiN deposited under the same conditions.

316 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, low-temperature-deposited silicon nitride and aluminum oxide films are investigated for reducing carrier recombination at the silicon surface, and a simple configuration for efficient back surface passivation of solar cells is introduced as a possible substitute for the conventional back surface field.
Abstract: Low-temperature-deposited silicon nitride and aluminum oxide films are investigated for reducing carrier recombination at the silicon surface. The insulator/silicon interface properties (fixed charge density, fast interface state density, and surface recombination velocity) are studied as a function of deposition and annealing temperature in the range of 270/sup 0/ - 550/sup 0/C. The effects of UV irradiation and their elimination by charge-induced passivation are extensively discussed. The successful application of both films for front surface passivation of a novel thin-silicon solar cell of the back collection type (BACK-MIS cell) is demonstrated. Finally, a simple configuration for efficient back surface passivation of solar cells is introduced as a possible substitute for the conventional back surface field.

316 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
2023245
2022529
2021421
2020686
2019994
2018911