Aluminium Nitride | Properties | Uses | Other Details

Aluminium Nitride Properties Uses and other Details

What is Aluminium Nitride

Aluminum nitride is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula AlN. It is a white-blue colored solid in its pure state and is usually gray or off-white in color. Aluminum nitride is a nitride of aluminum, and it is a semiconductor. It was first synthesized in 1877. Aluminum nitride (AlN) is an excellent material to use when high thermal conductivity and electrical insulation properties are required, making it an ideal material for use in thermal management and electrical applications.

Aluminium Nitride Properties Uses and other Details

Properties of Aluminium Nitride

• Aluminum nitride is a whitish-bluish solid in its pure form, and is usually gray or off-white in color.
• Its density is 3.26 grams per cubic centimeter.
• Its molar mass is 40.9882 g/mol.
• Aluminum nitride is found in the solid state at room temperature, its melting point is 2200 °C, and its boiling point is 2517 °C.
• This material is an electrical insulator. Doping improves its electrical conductivity. Apart from this, it exhibits piezoelectric properties.
• It has the property of high thermal conductivity.
• It has the property of low thermal expansion coefficient.
• In powder form, it is susceptible to hydrolysis by water or moisture.
• Aluminum nitride is non-reactive with most process chemicals and gases, making it more desirable for use in the semiconductor industry.
• Aluminum nitride is mainly found in the hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure, but also has a metastable cubic zincblende phase, which is mainly synthesized as thin films.
• Aluminum nitride is one of the few materials that possesses both broad and direct bandgap and large thermal conductivity. This is due to its small atomic mass, strong interatomic bonds, and simple crystal structure.
• In air, the surface of aluminum nitride is oxidized above 700 °C, this oxide layer protects it up to 1370 °C.

Uses of Aluminium Nitride

• Aluminum nitride has both excellent dielectric strength and high thermal conductivity, making it an ideal medium for heat sinks or electrical insulators.
• Substrates made of aluminum nitride (AlN) provide more efficient cooling than conventional and other ceramic substrates, hence their use as chip carriers and heat sinks.
• Due to the similarity between its thermal profile and silicon it is used for wafer related semiconductor applications.
• Aluminum nitride is also used to make piezoelectric micromachined ultrasound transducers, which emit and receive ultrasound and which can be used for in-air rangefinding over distances of up to one meter.
• Aluminum nitride is a common substitute for beryllium oxide (BeO) in the semiconductor industry because it does not pose a health hazard when machined.
• Aluminum nitride is widely used commercially in RF filters for mobile telecommunications equipment.
• It is used to make crucibles for gallium arsenide crystal growth and is used in steel and semiconductor manufacturing.
• Apart from these, it is also used in lasers, chiplets, collets, electrical insulators, clamp rings in semiconductor processing equipment, and electrical insulation and heat management in microwave device packaging.

Other Details

• Aluminum nitride is synthesized by carbothermal reduction of aluminum oxide in the presence of gaseous nitrogen or ammonia, or by direct nitridation of aluminum.
• Proposed applications of aluminum nitride include toxic gas chemical sensors. Research has explored the use of AIN nanotubes to manufacture quasi-one dimensional nanotubes for use in these devices. Another application discovered in the past two decades is in light-emitting diodes that can operate in the ultraviolet spectrum.

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