SIC: AN ADVANCED SEMICONDCTOR MATERIAL FOR POWER DEVICES

Abstract

Silicon carbide (SiC) is a wide band gap material that shows great promise in high-power and high temperature electronics applications because of its high thermalconductivity and high breakdown electrical field. This paper describes how the outstanding physical andelectronic properties ofSiC permit the fabrication of devices that can operate athigher temperature and power levels than devices fabricated from other material such as silicon orGaAs. In spite of, recent electronics depends primarily upon Silicon based devices;this material is not capable of handling many greater requirements. Devices which operate at high frequency, at high power levels and are to be used in seriousenvironments at high temperatures and high radiation levels required other materialswith wider band gaps than that of silicon. Many space and ground based application rather than satellite applications also have a requirement for wide band gap materials. SiC also has great strength for high power and frequency operation due to a high saturated drift velocity. The Wide band gap permit for unusual optoelectronic applications that include blue light emitting diodes and ultraviolet photo detectors New areas involving gas sensing and RF applications offer significant promise. Overall, the properties of SiC make it one of the best prospects for extending the capabilities and operational regimes of the current semiconductor device technology.