Ps. Wang et Tn. Wittberg, THE NITRIDATION OF A SILICON POWDER STUDIED BY XPS AND X-RAY-INDUCED AES, Surface and interface analysis, 24(2), 1996, pp. 95-98
XPS and x-ray-induced AE'S 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 degrees C. An equation was deri
ved to calculate the average surface reaction layer thicknesses from t
he silicon AES spectra. The results indicate that samples where the re
action layer is relatively thin may have some silicon oxynitride withi
n this layer. For samples will calculated reaction layer thicknesses >
1.5 nm, the N 1s peak binding energy and Si KLL peak kinetic energy a
re characteristic of bulk Si3N4. The nitridation kinetics follow a lin
ear rate law within this temperature range with a measured activation
energy of 280 +/- 60 kJ mol(-1).