Thermodynamic stability of solid and fluid phases in the Si3B3N7 system

We investigate the thermodynamic properties of the ceramic material Si₃B₃N₇ which has so far only been synthesized as an amorphous compound. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we investigate the stability of both solid and fluid phases of Si₃B₃N₇, in order to gain insights into the proper synthetic conditions needed to generate the stable amorphous and crystalline phases of this compound. We study the ternary liquid–gas region of the phase diagram at temperatures above the theoretical glass transition in this system, and construct an approximate ‘metastable’ phase diagram of Si₃B₃N₇. In addition we study the stability of the amorphous and crystalline phases in the solid state against the decomposition into the binary phases h-BN and β-Si₃N₄ as a function of the size of the crystallites involved, and the stability of the melt against evolution of nitrogen as a function of nitrogen pressure.