Interfacial structure in silicon nitride sintered with lanthanide oxide

Three independent research groups present a comparison of their structural analyses of prismatic interfaces in silicon nitride densified with the aid of lanthanide oxide Ln(2)O(3). All three groups obtained scanning transmission electron microscope images which clearly reveal the presence of well-defined Ln segregation sites at the interfaces, and, moreover, reveal that these segregation sites are element-specific. While some results differ across the three research groups, the vast majority exhibits good reproducibility.