• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.235-242
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• 2018

High temperature electrical conductivity of Aluminum Nitride (AlN) ceramics sintered with $Y_2O_3$ as a sintering aid has been investigated with respect to various sintering conditions and MgO-dopant. When magnesium oxide is added as a dopant, liquid glass-film and crystalline phases such as spinel, perovskite are formed as second phases, which affects their electrical properties. According to high temperature impedance analysis, MgO doping leads to reduction of activation energy and electrical resistivity due to AlN grains. On the other hand, the activation energy and electrical resistivity due to grain boundary were increased by MgO doping. This is a result of the formation of liquid glass film in the grain boundary, which contains Mg ions, or the elevation of schottky barrier due to the precipitation of Mg in the grain boundary. For the annealed sample of MgO doped AlN, the electrical resistivity and activation energy were increased further compared to MgO doped AlN, which results from diffusion of Mg in the grains from grain boundary as shown in the microstructure.