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Silicon Nitride Sputtering Targets and Applications

Silicon nitride( Si3N4 )  is a chemical compound which consists of the elements silicon and nitrogen. Silicon Nitride (White to gray)(Si3N4) Sputtering Targets (Size:2'' ,Thickness:0.125'' , Purity: 99.9%) is the most thermodynamically stable of the silicon nitrides. Hence, Si3N4 is the most commercially important of the silicon nitrides It is a white, high-melting-point solid that is relatively chemically inert. Silicon nitride has a high thermal stability.
Silicon nitride sputtering targets is mainly applied in microelectronics as an insulator and a chemical barrier for protective packaging of devices. As a passivation layer, silicon nitride presents a higher diffusion barrier against water molecules and sodium ions, which is essential in microelectronics. In addition, silicon nitride has high thermal stability, elevated hardness and good dielectric properties. In optics, silicon nitride provides great transparency in spectral range from 300 to 1200 nm. Therefore, it’s possible to use silicon nitride in biochemical and biomedical optical applications. Typically, silicon nitride thin-films are fabricated by chemical vapor deposition at low gas pressure (LPCVD) and plasma-enhanced (PECVD). Nevertheless, RF sputtering depositions offer some advantages over previously mentioned techniques, such as absence of toxic gases (replaced by inert gases); lower deposition temperature especially for bio and organic applications; versatility and simplicity to change the parameters of film growth and a lower stressful stoichiometry.
Silicon nitride can be used as a complementary protective coating on solid state lithium batteries only fabricated using PVD techniques. A battery is composed by two electrodes (cathode and anode) and one electrolyte between them, acting as an electrical insulator. In lithium batteries, the anode is normally metallic lithium, which oxidizes very quickly in contact with air and water. Thus, it is essential to achieve an effective protection for lithium anode. Taking this as starting point, the purpose of this study is to complement this first protective layer with silicon nitride fabricated by RF sputtering. Thereby, a complete lithium battery will be fabricated in series, resorting only to PVD techniques, avoiding the necessity of a glove box and a CVD chamber.
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