Manufacture and Properties of Aluminum Nitride

Aluminum nitride (AIN) is manufactured by direct nitriding or reductive nitriding of a homogeneous mixture of aluminum oxide or aluminum hydroxide and finely divided carbon, or a compound which releases carbon upon thermal cracking under a nitrogen atmosphere. 

Further advantage similar thermal expansion coefficient to silicon 

Other processes via the gas phase have not yet got beyond the development phase. 

The aluminum nitride produced by these processes has to be further processed by grinding under moisture-free conditions, without introducing impurities. 

150 t/a were produced worldwide in 1995 by 7 companies. Demand is only growing slowly. Only a small part of its worldwide manufacturing capacity is utilized. 

---