Low-temperature deposition of crystalline silicon nitride nanoparticles by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition

The nanocrystalline alpha silicon nitride (α-Si3N4) was deposited on a silicon substrate by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition at the substrate temperature of 700 °C under 4 and 40 Torr at the wire temperatures of 1430 and 1730 °C, with a gas mixture of SiH4 and NH3. The size and density of crystalline nanoparticles on the substrate increased with increasing wire temperature. With increasing reactor pressure, the crystallinity of α-Si3N4 nanoparticles increased, but the deposition rate decreased.