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.

High Thermal Conductivity in Silicon Nitride with Anisotropie Microstructure

Abstract: Silicon nitride was fabricated by tape casting of {alpha}-Si{sub 3}N{sub 4} powder with 5 wt% Y{sub 2}O{sub 3} and 5 vol% rodlike {beta}-Si{sub 3}N{sub 4} seed particles, followed by tape stacking, hot pressing under 40 MPa, and annealing at 1,850 C for 2--66 h under a nitrogen pressure of 0.9 MPa. Silicon nitrides fabricated by this procedure exhibited a highly anisotropic microstructure with large elongated grains (developed from seed particles) uniaxially oriented parallel to the grain alignment were much higher than those measured in other directions and exhibited high values of up to 120 W/(m{center_dot}K). The anisotropic thermal conductivity of the specimen could be explained by the rule of mixture, considering that large elongated grains developed from seeds have higher thermal conductivity than a small-grained matrix.

Open pore description of mechanical properties of ceramics

Abstract: A dependence of Young's modulus of elasticity on open porosity in ceramics is derived from an open-porosity model, which in the literature, is applied to salinity conductivity and fluid permeability in rocks. A random distribution of grain and pore size is assumed. The relation developed,E(p)=E o(1−"p)m, whereE is the modulus of elasticity of the porous ceramic,E o is the theoretical elastic modulus,p is the porosity andm is an exponent dependent on the tortuosity of the structure of the ceramic, adequately describes the dependence of the modulus of elasticity on porosity. The model is applied to the experimental data from several ceramics such as alumina, silicon nitride, silicon carbide, uranium oxide, rare-earth oxides, and YBa2Cu3O7−δ superconductor, and the value ofm is obtained for each case. We have shown thatm has a value of nearly 2 for sintered ceramics, unless sintering aids or hot pressing have been used during fabrication of the ceramic. Such additional procedures approximately double the magnitude ofm.

Gas-phase Silicon Etching With Bromine Trifluoride

Abstract: We report the first study of gas phase silicon micromachining using pure bromine trifluoride (BrF/sub 3/) gas at room temperature. This work includes both the design of a new apparatus and etching characterization. Consistent etching results and high molecular etching efficiency (80%) have been achieved by performing the etching in a controlled pulse mode. This pure gaseous BrF/sub 3/ etching process is isotropic and has a high etch rate with superb selectivity over silicon dioxide (3000:1), silicon nitride (400-800:1) and photoresist (1000:1). Moreover, gaseous BrF/sub 3/ etching has also been demonstrated in surface micromachining process, where silicon nitride channels and membranes using polysilicon as the sacrificial layer have been successfully fabricated.

Effect of Glass Frit Chemistry on the Physical and Electrical Properties of Thick-Film Ag Contacts for Silicon Solar Cells

Abstract: The aim of this study is to understand the effect of the glass frit chemistry used in thick-film Ag pastes on the electrical performance of the silicon solar cell. The study focuses on the physical behavior of the glass frit during heat treatment as well as the resulting Ag−Si contact interface structure. We observe that the glass frit transition temperature (Tg) and softening characteristics play a critical role in the contact interface structure. The glass transition temperature also significantly influences the contact ohmicity of the thick-film metal grid. A high glass frit transition temperature generally results in thinner glass regions between the Ag bulk of the grid and the Si emitter. It was found that a glass frit (with high Tg) that crystallizes fast during the firing cycle after etching the silicon nitride and Si emitter results in smaller Ag crystallite precipitation at the contact interface. This results in smaller junction leakage current density (Jo2) and higher open-circuit voltage (Voc). Using high Tg pastes (with the appropriate Ag powder size), greater than 0.78 fill factors and >17.4% efficiency were achieved on 4 cm2 untextured single crystal Si solar cells with 100 Ω/sq emitters.