Rapid synthesis of patterned silicon carbide coatings using laser-induced pyrolysis

M. Anas, M. Radovic, M. Green
Texas A&M University,
United States

Keywords: silicon carbide, composite, coatings

Summary:

The conversion of preceramic polymers to ceramics normally requires multiple processing steps such as curing, pyrolysis, and crystallization, which can be time and energy consuming. Here we show one-step rapid synthesis of cubic silicon carbide (β-SiC) by laser-assisted pyrolysis and crystallization of molten polycarbosilane. We term the resulting product “LISiC” (laser-induced silicon carbide). We demonstrate that repeated polymer infiltration and lasing can be used to make dense LISiC and SiC-LISiC coatings which are stable up to 1073 K in air. We also demonstrate possibility of patterning LISiC on various substrates such as copper, steel, aluminum, and silicon wafer with a rate of 3 cm^2/min. Finally, we find that the dense LISiC coatings rapidly heat up in response to radio frequency (RF) fields, which would enable out-of-oven manufacturing of SiC-based composites, micro-heaters, and efficient chemical synthesis in reactors employing SiC-based catalyst supports.