Silicon nitride is a chemical compound of silicon and nitrogen. If powdered silicon is heated between 1300 °C and 1400 °C in an atmosphere of nitrogen, trisilicon tetranitride, Si3N4 is formed. The silicon sample weight increases progressively due to the chemical combination of silicon and nitrogen. Without an iron catalyst, the reaction is complete after several hours (~7), when no further weight increase due to nitrogen absorption (per gram of silicon) is detected. In addition to Si3N4, several other silicon nitride phases (with chemical formulas corresponding to varying degrees of nitridation/Si oxidation state) have been reported in the literature, for example, the gaseous disilicon mononitride (Si2N); silicon mononitride (SiN), and silicon sesquinitride (Si2N3), each of which are stoichiometric phases. As with other refractories, the products obtained in these high-temperature syntheses depends on the reaction conditions (e.g. time, temperature, and starting materials including the reactants and container materials), as well as the mode of purification. However, the existence of the sesquinitride has since come into question.
The Si3N4 phase is the most chemically inert (being decomposed by dilute HF and hot H2SO4). It is also the most thermodynamically stable of the silicon nitrides. Hence, Si3N4 is the most commercially important of the silicon nitrides and is generally understood as what is being referred to where the term "silicon nitride" is used.
Silicon nitride (i.e. Si3N4) is a hard ceramic having high strength over a broad temperature range, moderate thermal conductivity, low coefficient of thermal expansion, moderately high elastic modulus, and unusually high fracture toughness for a ceramic. This combination of properties leads to excellent thermal shock resistance, ability to withstand high structural loads to high temperature, and superior wear resistance. Silicon nitride is mostly used in high-endurance and high-temperature applications, such as gas turbines, car engine parts, bearings and metal working and cutting tools. Silicon nitride bearings are used in the main engines of the NASA's Space shuttles. Thin silicon nitride films are a popular insulating layer in silicon-based electronics and silicon nitride cantilevers are the sensing parts of atomic force microscopes.
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