MEASUREMENT OF SURFACE OXYGEN-CONTENT IN SILICON-NITRIDE POWDERS

Surface oxygen content in as received and oxidized silicon nitride powders was measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis and chemical analysis. In the as received powders, the average difference in the measured values by the two methods was about 40%. It is suggested that the difference is due to some irrelevancies of the models on which these methods are based. On the other hand, the correlation of the results for the oxidized powders was reasonable. The agreement between the increment of the surface oxygen content and that of the total oxygen content in the oxidized powders was better for the XPS measurements.