IMPEDANCE SPECTROSCOPY (IS), XRD AND SEM OF OXIDE-ADDED Si₃N₄

Impedance spectroscopy (IS) is a non-destructive technique used for obtaining valuable information about bulk conductivities, dielectric constants, phase composition and grain boundaries of important ceramic materials, amongst many others. We obtained Nyquist plots for four different hot-pressed Si₃N₄ samples in two different frequency regimes: 1 Hz to 30 MHz and 1 kHz to 100 kHz. The information obtained was compared against results from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The limitations of the frequency response techniques are also discussed.