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Surface Morphology of Heat‐Treated Ceramic Thin Films
Author(s) -
Susnitzky David W.,
Carter C. Barry
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
journal of the american ceramic society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 196
eISSN - 1551-2916
pISSN - 0002-7820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1151-2916.1992.tb05599.x
Subject(s) - ceramic , materials science , morphology (biology) , spinel , transmission electron microscopy , scanning electron microscope , composite material , lattice (music) , mineralogy , facet (psychology) , nanotechnology , metallurgy , chemistry , geology , psychology , paleontology , social psychology , physics , personality , big five personality traits , acoustics
The morphology of surfaces of several ceramic materials has been examined using transmission electron microscopy. The approach used was to prepare a sample for examination in the microscope, carefully clean it, and then heat‐treat it. In the case of the oxides studied (alumina and spinel) the samples were heated in air; the non‐oxides (α‐SiC and β ‐SiC) were annealed under vacuum. The morphology in all but one case was such that the surface faceted parallel to the nearest low‐index plane to give well‐defined terraces; these were separated by ledges which also tended to facet parallel to the traces of low‐index planes. The exception was the {1100} alumina surface, which appears to be unstable in air at temperatures close to 1400°C. A computer program using a multislice approach was used to estimate the height of the steps on the (0001) surface; the step heights appear to be multiples of the c lattice parameter. A reconstruction of this surface as a result of this heat treatment is also proposed.