Fractal and Spherulitic Morphology of Silicon Nitride Crystallized from Amorphous Films

Abstract

Thin films of substoiciometric silicon nitride were grown by the use of ion beam assisted deposition. The amorphous films were annealed at high temperatures (1017-1200C) to produce crystalline alpha-Si3N4. Both highly symmetric spherulitic crystal morphologies and irregular fractal aggregates were seen. In the latter case, a fractal dimension of 1.2 was measured. These two macroscopically different forms possessed correspondingly different microstructures. The morphologies were found to be determined by the temperature of the anneal.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1988
Accession Number
ADA200158

Entities

People

  • A. D. Kahn
  • C. A. Carosella
  • E. P. Donovan
  • G. K. Hubler
  • K. S. Grabowski

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Annealing
  • Ceramic Materials
  • Crystallization
  • Crystals
  • Deposition (Materials Processing)
  • Diffraction
  • Electrodeposition
  • Electron Microscopy
  • Films
  • Materials
  • Materials Processing
  • Polarizers
  • Scanning Electron Microscopy
  • Scattering
  • Thin Films
  • Two Dimensional
  • X Rays

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Aerospace Propulsion Engineering.
  • Materials Science and Engineering.
  • Thin Film Deposition Science.