Roles of rare earth oxide additives in millimeter-wave sintering of AlN

Roles of rare earth oxide (RE2O3) additives in millimeter-wave(MM) sintering of AlN were investigated from the standpoints of phase diagram, heating characteristics of rare earth oxides, and morphology of intergranular oxide phase. In the millimeter-wave sintering of AlN, densification temperature decreased with the decrease of the ionic radius of rare earth ion and was closely related with the eutectic temperature in the RE2O3-Al2O3 binary system. The lowest densification temperature in the millimeter-wave sintering of AlN with Yb2O3 additive was attributed to the largest heating rate of Yb2O3·Al2O3 binary oxide under millimeter-wave radiation. Furthermore, the lowest densification temperature could be attained while selecting the Yb2O3 content so as to form the intergranular phase with the eutectic composition in the Yb2O3-Al2O3 binary system. The result showed good agreement with the above mentioned during the sintering of Si3N4 with Yb2O3-Al2O3 additive. From TEM observation, it was verified that film-like intergranular oxide phase formed under millimeter-wave radiation was favorable for attaining high thermal conductivity in the Yb2O3 added AlNs.