AEROSOL SYNTHESIS OF ALUMINUM NITRIDE POWDER USING METALORGANIC REACTANTS

We describe a new laboratory-scale aerosol process for making submicrometer AlN powder by the reaction of gas phase Al(C2H5)3 and NH3. The process can produce spherical, near-stoichiometric AlN powder with mean particle diameter ranging from 0.07 to 0.20 mum and polydispersity index between 0.2 and 0.5. The inlet TEA concentration is found to have the greatest effect on particle size, with the furnace temperature and carrier gas flow rate having lesser influence. Our results appear to favor a LaMer-type mechanism (particle nucleation, followed by condensation growth) over fusion-coalescence to explain particle growth.