Silicon nitride systems

Rogi, P. and J.C. Schuster Phase Diagrams of Ternary Boron Nitride and Silicon Nitride Systems, ASM International, Materials Park, OH. 1992. 

Pehlke, R. D., and J. F. Elliott High temperature thermodynamics of the silicon, nitrogen, silicon-nitride system. Trans. Met. Soc. AIME 215, 781-785 (1959). 

A. Silicon Nitride Systems with One Metal Oxide. 131... 

B. Silicon Nitride Systems with Two Metal Oxides. 137... 

Other alloy systems in which ESR has been an effective experimental tool include silicon nitride (Shimizu et ai, 1982b Ishii et ai, 1982c), silicon oxide (Holzenkampfer et a/., 1979 Shimizu era/., 1980a Dvurechenskii et al., 1982a), and silicon oxynitride (Kubler et ai, 1983). In the silicon nitride system the N hyperfine interaction provides an additional contribution to the observed -values and linewidths, which indicates that the spins on the silicon atoms are influenced by nearby nitrogen atoms. This situation contrasts with that observed in a-Si H or a-Si F in which no strong influence of the H or F atoms on the Si dangling bond resonance is observed (Ishii et ai. 

II.2. Reaction-Bonded Silicon Nitride Systems with Tow Fibers... 

Rog] Rogl, R, The System B-N-Fe m Phase Diagrams of Ternary Boron Nitride and Silicon Nitride Systems, , Rogl, P. Schuster, J.C., (Eds.), ASM, Materials Park, OH 1992, 33-36 (Crys. Structure, Thermodyn., Phase Diagram, Phase Relations, Experimental, Review, 9)... 

Another useful system which merits mention is the polycarbosilane which resulted from research carried out by C.L. Schilling and his coworkers in the Union Carbide Laboratories in Tarrytown, New York [6]. More recently, a useful polymeric precursor for silicon nitride has been developed by workers at Dow Corning Corporation [7]. 

Refractories such as boron nitride, silicon nitride, silicon carbide, and boron carbide are of great importance for the production or protection of systems which can be operated in very high... 

A cross-sectional schematic of a monolithic gas sensor system featuring a microhotplate is shown in Fig. 2.2. Its fabrication relies on an industrial CMOS-process with subsequent micromachining steps. Diverse thin-film layers, which can be used for electrical insulation and passivation, are available in the CMOS-process. They are denoted dielectric layers and include several silicon-oxide layers such as the thermal field oxide, the contact oxide and the intermetal oxide as well as a silicon-nitride layer that serves as passivation. All these materials exhibit a characteristically low thermal conductivity, so that a membrane, which consists of only the dielectric layers, provides excellent thermal insulation between the bulk-silicon chip and a heated area. The heated area features a resistive heater, a temperature sensor, and the electrodes that contact the deposited sensitive metal oxide. An additional temperature sensor is integrated close to the circuitry on the bulk chip to monitor the overall chip temperature. The membrane is released by etching away the silicon underneath the dielectric layers. Depending on the micromachining procedure, it is possible to leave a silicon island underneath the heated area. Such an island can serve as a heat spreader and also mechanically stabihzes the membrane. The fabrication process will be explained in more detail in Chap 4. 

Progress in the design and fabrication of high-quality optical microresonators is closely related to the development of novel optical materials and technologies. The key material systems used for microresonator fabrication include silica, silica on silicon, silicon, silicon on insulator, silicon nitride and oxynitride, polymers, semiconductors such as GaAs, InP, GalnAsP, GaN, etc, and crystalline materials such as lithium niobate and calcium fluoride. Table 2 smnmarises the optical characteristics of these materials (see Eldada, 2000, 2001 Hillmer, 2003 Poulsen, 2003 for more detail). 

Mass spectrometry is also extremely useful as a process monitor. Less sophisticated residual gas analyzers (RGA) operating on the principles of mass spectrometry are available for these purposes and for end point detection. For the etching of Si 128-130), poly-Si 130), silicon nitride 130), and Si02 (729), SiF (m/e=85) has been shown to be effective for end-point detection. In addition, (m/e=14) is useful for nitride 129,130) in leak tight systems, while O (m/e =16), CO (m/e =44) and Si" " (m/e=29) are useful for oxide (757). Because of the general nature of mass spectrometry as a diagnostic tool, it should be applicable to etching studies of metals and other semiconductor materials. 

Dielectric Deposition Systems. The most common techniques used for dielectric deposition include chemical vapor deposition (CVD), sputtering, and spin-on films. In a CVD system thermal or plasma energy is used to decompose source molecules on the semiconductor surface (189). In plasma-enhanced CVD (PECVD), typical source gases include silane, SiH4, and nitrous oxide, N20, for deposition of silicon nitride. The most common CVD films used are silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, and silicon oxynitrides. 

Although related SiN precursor systems have been developed, the above sets of reactions provide launch points for synthesizing the majority of SiN-containing precursors studied to date. Various groups have learned to manipulate oligomers prepared as above to develop useful precursors. We begin by discussing those that provide phase pure silicon nitride. 

Gauckler LJ, Petzow G (1977) Representation of Multicomponent Silicon Nitride Based Systems. In Riley FL (ed) Nitrogen Ceramics, Noordhoff-Leyden, p 41... 

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