New technique to synthesize silicon nitride nanopowder by discharge-assisted reaction of silane and ammonia

Abstract

In this work, the chemical reaction of silane and ammonia gases was induced and assisted by electric power transferred to the reaction volume throughout argon discharge at pressures of about 3 mbar. This power was applied to the reaction volume as short pulses with different durations to produce highly-pure polycrystalline Si3N4 nanoparticles. The number of crystal planes was decreased by using shorter pulses of discharge power. The minimum nanoparticle size was 26.10 nm for the sample prepared using discharge pulse duration of 0.1 ms. This is the first attempt to employ fast discharge pulses to induce and assist the chemical reaction of silane and ammonia to produce highly-pure silicon nitride nanopowders.