Use of Novel Precursor Chemistry for Synthesis of Superhard Materials

摘要

The objective of this short term program was to initiate synthesis of a new class of light element materials with novel compositions that are isoelectronic to carbon (i.e. the number of valence electrons per atom is four) or related to Si3N4. The ultimate goal is to investigate their use in high pressure or laser ablation synthesis of extremely dense, superhard materials of the same composition that have structures and properties related to those of diamond.