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The Nitridation of a Silicon Powder Studied by XPS and X‐ray‐induced AES
Author(s) -
Sen Wang Pu,
Wittberg Thomas N.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1096-9918(199602)24:2<95::aid-sia78>3.0.co;2-o
Subject(s) - x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , silicon oxynitride , silicon , analytical chemistry (journal) , layer (electronics) , activation energy , kinetic energy , nitrogen , x ray , binding energy , materials science , atmospheric temperature range , range (aeronautics) , silicon nitride , chemistry , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , atomic physics , metallurgy , thermodynamics , composite material , optics , physics , organic chemistry , chromatography , quantum mechanics , engineering
XPS and x‐ray‐induced AES have been used to study the reaction layers formed on silicon powder samples heated in ultra‐high purity nitrogen at temperatures between 1100 and 1200°C. An equation was derived to calculate the average surface reaction layer thicknesses from the silicon AES spectra. The results indicate that samples where the reaction layer is relatively thin may have some silicon oxynitride within this layer. For samples with calculated reaction layer thicknesses >1.5 nm, the N 1s peak binding energy and Si KLL peak kinetic energy are characteristic of bulk Si 3 N 4 . The nitridation kinetics follow a linear rate law within this temperature range with a measured activation energy of 280±60 kJ mol ‐1 .