Status of SiC Products and Technology

Abstract

The benefits of silicon carbide (SiC) devices for use in power electronics are driven by fundamental material benefits of high breakdown field and thermal conductivity, and over 25 years of sustained development in materials and devices has brought adoption to a tipping point. It takes the confluence of many separate developments to drive largescale adoption, which we will examine in this chapter.

Temperature-Dependent Stability of Polytypes and Stacking Faults inSiC: Reconciling Theory and Experiments

“…Silicon Carbide has become the wide band gap (WBG) semiconductor with the most mature technology [1] and it is finally ready to penetrate the power devices market after more than two decades elapsed as faint promise of next generation power electronics [2,3]. Indeed, it is expected that SiC will reach about 10% of the Si market by 2025 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 40% from 2020 to 2022 [4]. But, to continue the development of SiC technology and sustain the improvements in efficiency and performance of WBG based devices, research efforts need to be continued even at the level of material physical understanding.…”

Defect Chemistry and Doping of Ultrawide Band Gap (III)BO3 Compounds

“…Semiconductors with ultrawide band gaps ( E g > 3.4 eV) are critical components in next-generation high power and high voltage electronics. , Wide band gap (WBG) materials like SiC ( E g = 3.3 eV) and GaN ( E g = 3.4 eV) have enabled the creation of state-of-the-art commercial power devices such as the 3.3 kV SiC MOSFET, which have higher voltage limits relative to traditional Si-based technologies for the same on-state resistance. − However, even for SiC and GaN devices, large conduction losses limit the electric current rating (<100 A) and make them unsuitable for high power (<100 kW) applications . In addition, broad adoption of these “next-generation” devices is still hindered by fabrication cost (SiC) and lack of large, high-quality native substrates (GaN) …”

Influence of GaN Cap Layer on E-Mode AlGaN/GaN HEMT Device with Nitrogen Implanted Gate Using TCAD Simulations

“…When compared to SiC, GaN has many advantages. GaN has a 20% higher breakdown eld than SiC [7][8][9][10][11], and it can be grown on less expensive substrates (e.g., Si and sapphire). Another bene t of GaN's polarity effects is that it can be used to create a High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT).…”