| Abstract Scope |
Silicon carbide is one of the most important engineering ceramics because of its unique combination of properties including excellent mechanical properties, excellent oxidation and corrosion resistance at elevated temperatures, and high thermal conductivity. Recently, highly conductive liquid-phase sintered SiC (LPS-SiC) ceramics have been developed by the successful doping of N atoms into a SiC lattice. Fully dense N-doped SiC ceramics with electrical conductivity as high as 300 S·cm-1 at room temperature have been obtained.
This presentation reviews the factors affecting the electrical conductivity of LPS-SiC ceramics, including the effects of grain boundary structure, soluble atoms, SiC polytype, porosity, and grain size.
The results suggest that the electrical resistivity can be controlled over a wide range (10−3–1013 Ω·cm at RT) through (i) the donor-acceptor compensation mechanism, (ii) grain boundary engineering, and (iii) judicious selection of polytype of the starting SiC powder, sintering additive composition, sintering atmosphere, and bedding powder composition. |