Zirconium nitrate of chemical suppliers. It is used as a source of zirconium for other salts, as an analytical standard, or as a preservative. Zirconium nitrate and nitronium pentanitratozirconate can be used as chemical vapour deposition precursors as they are volatile, and decompose above 100 °C to form zirconia. At 95°C zirconium nitrate sublimes with a pressure of 0.2 mm of Hg and can be deposited as zirconium dioxide on silicon at 285°C. It has the advantage in that it is a single source, meaning it does not have to be mixed with other materials like oxygen, and decomposes at a relatively
Synthetic element synthesis, so the concept of natural isotope abundance has no meaning. Therefore, for synthetic elements the total nucleon count (protons plus neutrons) of the most stable isotope, i.e. the isotope with the longest half-life—is listed in brackets as the atomic mass. The first element discovered through synthesis was technetium—its discovery being definitely confirmed in 1936. This discovery filled a gap in the periodic table, and the fact that no stable isotopes of technetium exist explains its natural absence on Earth (and the gap). With the longest-lived isotope of technetium, Tc-98, having a 4.2-million-year half-life, no technetium remains from the formation