Synthesis and characterization of nanocrystalline TaN

Tantalum nitride (TaN) nanocrystals have been successfully synthesized at 650 °C through a solid-state reaction in an autoclave. The X-ray powder diffraction pattern indicates that the product is a mixture of hexagonal and metastable cubic TaN. Transmission electron microscopy images and selected area electron diffraction patterns show that the hexagonal TaN crystallites consist of nanorod with a typical size of about 50×1000 nm and the cubic TaN crystallites are composed of uniform particles with an average size of about 30 nm.