Synthesis and characterisation of gold nitride under high pressure conditions - synchrotron studies

二元氮化物具有高熔点、高硬度和稳定的化学稳定性等特点。经过近20年的徒劳尝试，PI及其同事最近通过在超高真空环境中将低能氮离子注入单晶Au（110）表面，并通过等离子体和反应离子溅射成功地制备了氮化金。这种新的氮化物化合物的存在和一些性质，通过氮辐射产生的，已被测量。然而，进一步和更详细的分析受到以下事实的阻碍：所得基质包含金和氮化金两者的混合物，后者仅占最终样品的20%。在我们访问先进光源（伯克利）时，我们希望探索大量形成氮化金的可能性，并确定其结构特性。金刚石对顶砧单元（DAC）是探索压力-温度空间和识别新高压相的重要工具，也是对其结构、机械和电学性质进行原位研究的重要工具。通过使用DAC，我们打算确定在升高的和环境（亚稳相）压力和温度下的氮化金相的结构。同时进行的原位电测量将为与理论的比较提供一个很好的基础，并有助于我们理解这种新型材料的物理特性

Binary nitrides exhibit a variety of remarkable characteristics, including high melting points, high hardness and a robust chemical stability. After almost twenty years of fruitless attempts, gold nitride was successfully produced recently by the PI and co-workers by implantation of low energy nitrogen ions into a single crystal Au(110) surface in an ultra high vacuum environment, and by plasma and reactive ion sputtering. The existence and some of the properties of this new nitride compound, as produced via nitrogen irradiation, have been measured. However further and more detailed analyses are hindered by the fact that the resulting matrix comprises a mixture of both gold and gold nitride, the latter making up only 20 % of the final samples. In our visit to the Advanced Light Source (Berkley) we wish to explore possibility of forming gold nitride in larger quantities and determine its structural properties. The Diamond anvil cell (DAC) is the essential tool for the exploration of pressure-temperature space and the identification of new high-pressure phases, and for performing in situ studies of their structure and mechanical and electrical properties. By using the DAC we intend to determine the structure of the gold nitride phase(s) at elevated and ambient (metastable phases) pressure and temperature. Simultaneous in situ electrical measurements will provide an excellent basis for comparison with theory and assist in our understanding of the physics of this novel material