GERMANIUM NITRIDE

Germanium nitride (Ge3N4) does not occur in nature as a compound. It can be produced by reacting germanium with ammonia. It can be applied as a passivation layers to germanium-based radiation detectors. Germanium Nitride is reported to be used as a water-insoluble gate dielectric film in metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor with germanium channel.² It is used in etchant formulation, which was originally developed for silicon oxynitride.³

1. G. Maggioni, S. Carturan, L. Fiorese, N. Pinto, F. Caproli, D. R. Napoli, M. Giarola, G. Mariotto, Germanium nitride and oxynitride films for surface passivation of Ge radiation detectors, 2017, vol. 393, pp.119-126
2. H. Kondo, I. Yanagi, M. Sakashita, A. Sakai, M. Ogawa, S. Zaima, Electrical properties and bonding structures of germanium nitride/Ge(100) structures formed by radical nitridation, 2006, vol. 3, pp. 287-289
3. P. Walker, W. H. Tarn, CRC Handbook of Metal Etchants, 1991, ISBN 0-8493-6323-6

brownish-white powder(s); -200 mesh with 99.999% purity; prepared by reacting Ge powder(s) and ammonia at 700°C–850°C; ortho-rhomb; a=1.384nm, b=0.406 nm, c=0.818 nm [CIC73] [CER91] [CRC10]

1. Heating Ge powder in liquid ammonia to 650-700 C will produce germanium nitride light brown powder.

2.GeCl4 and H2O directly generate GeO2, GeO2 in liquid ammonia directly generated Ge(NH)2, the compound is unstable, 150 into Ge2N3H, Ge2N3H at 350 and converted into Ge3N4.