Synthesis of nanosize Si–C–N powder in low pressure plasmas

Abstract

Multicomponent powders based on the B–C–N–Si system are of great interest as starting materials for sintering advanced ceramics and composites with improved properties. The square-wave modulation of the electrical power supplied to low pressure (<100 Pa) radio frequency (rf) plasmas has been shown as a suitable method to produce high purity silicon and binary powders, such as SiC, SiN and BN. The present study investigates the synthesis of silicon carbonitride (SiCN) nanometric powder in a plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition reactor, by rf glow discharge decomposition of CH 4, SiH 4 and NH 3 gases at room temperature. The output of the rf source (13.56 MHz) was square-wave modulated at a period of 20 s with plasma-on times between 0.05 and 5 s. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the SiCN nanopowder was amorphous and that the average particle size increased from 9 to 100 nm as the plasma-on period increased. The chemical composition of the powder was analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and elemental analysis. Infrared spectroscopy revealed the presence of Si–C, Si–N, C–N and hydrogenated bonds. The infrared absorptions of hydrogenated bonds decreased as the plasma-on time increased, volume ratio with the increase in particle size.