Silicon nitride is a ceramic material that has very interesting stability properties for space telescopes. Indeed, the objective for telescopes is chiefly stability and with its high strength and stiffness and low CTE, Silicon Nitride is well suited for complex space structures. Thales Alenia Space has demonstrated the ability of Si₃N₄ to address those needs and requirements for complex designs such as tubes, brackets, brazed supports and bars. All these structures have been tested, qualified and flight proven. In addition, deep characterization of the material strength has been performed. Now that this material has been demonstrated as suitable for telescope structures, several R&D activities are pursued, from production via additive manufacturing to suitability for optical parts. This paper shows an overview of past, on-going and foreseen developments for the Silicon Nitride technology.

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Stéphanie Behar-Lafênetre, Philippe Grasset, Nisrine Louh, Laurence Cornillon, Miguel Such-Taboada, Florent Gant, and Vincent Costes, "Silicon nitride for space optical applications," Proc. SPIE 11852, International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2020, 118524T (Presented at International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2021: 11 June 2021; Published: 11 June 2021); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2599815.