High-Temperature Electronic Materials: Silicon Carbide and Diamond

Book chapter, 2007

The physical and chemical properties of wide-band-gap semiconductors make these materials an ideal wide bandgapsemiconductor choice for device fabrication for applications in many different areas, e.g. light emitters, high-temperature and high-power electronics, high-power microwave devices, micro-electromechanical system (MEM) technology, and substrates for semiconductor preparation. These semiconductors have micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) been recognized for several decades as being suitable for these applications, but until recently the low material quality has not allowed the fabrication of high-quality devices. In this material quality chapter, we review the wide-band-gap semiconductors, silicon carbide and diamond. Silicon carbide electronics is advancing from the research stage to commercial production. The commercial availability of single-crystal SiC substrates during the early 1990s gave rise to intense activity in the development of silicon carbide devices. The commercialization started with the release of blue light-emitting diode (LED). The recent release of high-power Schottky diodes was a further demonstration of the progress made towards defect-free SiC substrates. Diamond has superior physical and chemical properties. Silicon-carbide- and diamond-based diamondsilicon carbide (SiC) electronics are at different stages of development. The preparation of high-quality single-crystal substrates of wafer size has allowed recent significant progress in the fabrication of several types of devices, and the development has reached many important milestones. However, high-temperature studies are still scarce, and diamond-based electronics is still in its infancy.