SILICON NITRIDE-MELILITE COMPOSITE SINTERED BODY AND DEVICE UTILIZING THE SAME

• Main Authors: TOSA AKIFUMI, MAEDA TETSUYA, SAWAMURA TAKENORI, HARA YASUSHI
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 27.05.2010
• Subjects: ARTIFICIAL STONE; CEMENTS; CERAMICS; CHEMISTRY; COMPOSITIONS THEREOF, e.g. MORTARS, CONCRETE OR LIKE BUILDINGMATERIALS; CONCRETE; LIME, MAGNESIA; MEASURING; MEASURING ELECTRIC VARIABLES; MEASURING MAGNETIC VARIABLES; METALLURGY; PHYSICS; REFRACTORIES; SLAG; TESTING; TREATMENT OF NATURAL STONE

A silicon nitride-melilite composite sintered body in accordance with the invention includes silicon nitride and a melilite Me2Si3O3N4, where Me denotes a metal element combining with silicon nitride to generate the melilite. The silicon nitride-melilite composite sintered body contains Si in a range of 41 to 83 mole percent in Si3N4 equivalent and Me in a range of 13 to 50 mole percent in oxide equivalent. The silicon nitride-melilite composite sintered body has an average thermal expansion coefficient that is arbitrarily adjustable in a range of 2 to 6 ppm/K at temperatures of 23 to 150° C. The silicon nitride-melilite composite sintered body has a high Young's modulus, a high mechanical strength, and excellent sintering performance. A device used for inspection of semiconductor in accordance with the invention utilizes such a silicon nitride-melilite composite sintered body.