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Atomistic Structure of Silicon Nitride/Silicate Glass Interfaces
Author(s) -
Pan Xiaoqing
Publication year - 1996
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.1151-2916.1996.tb08737.x
Subject(s) - high resolution transmission electron microscopy , materials science , amorphous solid , phase (matter) , transmission electron microscopy , silicon nitride , silicon , silicate , crystallography , mineralogy , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , chemistry , metallurgy , organic chemistry , engineering
The structure of interfaces formed by a Si 3 N 4 grain and the silica‐rich intergranular amorphous phase was investigated by quantitative high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy (QHRTEM). It was found that the contrast and periodicity of the HRTEM image of β‐Si 3 N 4 strongly depend on the specimen thickness and objective lens focus value. The different thinning rate between Si 3 N 4 and the glass phase during ion‐milling results in gradients of the specimen thickness at the interfaces. The interface roughness can also lead to a thickness variation of Si 3 N 4 near the interface parallel to the electron beam. As a result, the HRTEM micrographs, taken from the thin specimen regions near the interfaces at a certain defocus value, show the occurrence of an artifact of an ordered structure seemingly different from Si 3 N 4 . The present investigations, however, showed that no ordered phase actually different from that of Si 3 N 4 at the interfacial region in Si 3 N 4 could be identified so far. The interfacial structure is likely direct Si 3 N 4 /glass bonding, rather than an ordered transition phase between the Si 3 N 4 and the glass phase.