Using a domestic microwave oven, pellets of a silica-aluminium powder were ignited and a self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) reaction occurred to produce Si+AlN+Al2O3 as the resultant phases. Silicon AIN and Al2O3 were subsequently nitrated to synthesize sialon phases under a nitrogen atmosphere without cooling. Thus both the SHS process and the nitration were finished within one-step process, which could save processing time and energy.