The nanocrystalline alpha silicon nitride (alpha-Si3N4) was deposited on a silicon substrate by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition at the substrate temperature of 700 degrees C under 4 and 40Torr at the wire temperatures of 1430 and 1730 degrees C, with a gas mixture of SiH4 and NH3. The size and density of crystalline nanoparticles on the substrate increased with increasing wire temperature. With increasing reactor pressure. the crystallinity of alpha-Si3N4 nanoparticles increased, but the deposition rate decreased. (c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.