Critical material and processing issues of SiC electronic devices

Silicon carbide (SiC) is a wide bandgap semiconductor suitable for high-voltage, high-power and high-temperature devices operating from DC to microwave frequencies. However, the commercial production of SiC devices is limited by certain critical materials and fabrication problems, which are the focus of current research and development activities. The most important of these research areas are (i) growth of single crystal substrates, where larger wafers with lower defect density are needed, (ii) activation of ion-implanted dopants, (iii) fabrication of thermally stable low-resistance ohmic contacts, and (iv) formation of metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) quality dielectric interfaces.