The synthesis of silicon nitride was first reported in 1857 by Henri Edouard Saint-Clair Deville and Friedrich Wöhler. In their synthesis, a crucible with silicon was placed in a crucible filled with carbon and heated to reduce oxygen penetration. They reported a product that they called silicon nitride, but were unable to determine its chemical composition.
In 1879, Paul Schützenberger obtained the product by heating silicon mixed with a lining material (a paste that can be used as a crucible liner obtained by mixing charcoal, coal briquettes, or coke with clay) in a blast furnace and reported it as a compound with Si3N4. In 1910, Ludwig Weiss and Theodor Engelhardt produced Si3N4 by heating elemental silicon in pure nitrogen. In 1925, Friedrich and Sittig synthesized silicon nitride by heating silicon dioxide and carbon in a nitrogen atmosphere to 1250-1300°C using thermal reduction of carbon.
