Evolution of Carbon during Burnout and Sintering of Tape-Cast Aluminum Nitride

The surface nature and the composition of AlN powder, as-received and exposed to binder burnout, were studied using XPS and TEM. The surface of as-received AlN powder was covered by a thin layer of aluminum oxynitride and oxide mixture. A small portion of residual carbon from binder burnout was bound to oxygen atoms on the AlN powder surface, and the majority of the carbon was amorphous graphitoid carbon which covered the AlN powder surface uniformly. AlN samples were made using tape casting and pressureless sintering. Surface-carbon-to-oxygen ratio of AlN powder after binder burnout was evaluated using XPS. The surface C/O atomic ratios were observed to correlate with the sintering behavior, the composition of the second phase, the second phases distribution, and grain-boundary composition, as well as thermal conductivity of AlN samples.