Szilícium-karbid félvezető

Silicon Carbide (SiC) is an advanced semiconductor that overcomes many of the limitations found in traditional silicon devices. With three times wider bandgap than silicon and improved thermal conductivity, SiC devices are ideal for handling higher voltages and temperatures than their silicon counterparts.

This article will introduce the basic properties and advantages of SiC that have accelerated its widespread popularity for power electronics applications. We will review various epitaxial crystal growth techniques as well as physical characterization of grown layers.

Bandgap

Silicon carbide’s wide bandgap makes it ideal for power conversion switching applications, enabling it to handle higher voltages, currents and temperatures than typical silicon-based semiconductors – thus leading to smaller designs with reduced system costs.

The bandgap of any material refers to the energy required for electrons to move from the valence bands of atoms into conduction bands of those same atoms, with wide bandgap materials acting as conductors while those with narrower ones act as insulators; with silicon carbide boasting three times larger bandgap than that of silicon making it an incredibly efficient semiconductor material.

Wide bandgap materials do not rely on high voltages to activate thermal energy; instead they can operate at much higher temperatures — up to 300 deg C versus silicon’s maximum limit of 175 deg C.

Silicon carbide’s bandgap can also provide automotive applications with several advantages, reducing system costs while improving efficiency and reducing active cooling systems that add weight and complexity to EVs. Integrating silicon carbide in power conversion switching circuits requires unique expertise as it must be properly sized and configured according to application performance specifications; also required is taking an holistic approach when considering tradeoffs between cooling costs versus material cost benefits and performance advantages of silicon carbide.

Breakdown field strength

Silicon carbide (SiC) is an innovative semiconductor material with multiple advantages for power electronics applications, such as high blocking voltage capabilities, fast switching times and reduced losses. SiC-based devices also have higher breakdown field strengths than silicon-based ones enabling designers to increase current flow at given device sizes.

Breakdown field strength of semiconductors is directly proportional to their energy gap, which determines whether or not they act as conductors or insulators. Conductors allow electrons to freely pass between their valence and conduction bands while for insulators it requires significant amounts of energy to pass across these barriers between these bands; SiC has an exceptionally wide bandgap, making it conductor-like with an increased breakdown field strength than other materials such as Si.

SiC can be modified by doping with impurities such as aluminum, boron, gallium or nitrogen; its electrical properties can then be tailored by altering its chemical composition with dopants (impurities). Doping may make SiC act like an insulator by doping it with these elements or make it behave like a semiconductor by adding nitrogen or phosphorous – depending on its concentration and spatial distribution of dopants is key to its performance in devices; hence its concentration and distribution must be verified to make sure no harmful contaminants exist.

Hőmérséklet

Silicon Carbide (SiC) semiconductors provide numerous key benefits for power electronics applications, including high breakdown voltage, faster switching speeds, lower losses and radiation resistance – making them suitable for many designs and designs with reduced cooling requirements due to operating at higher temperatures. SiC semiconductors’ ability to operate at elevated temperatures also means reduced cooling needs resulting in smaller and lighter devices.

SiC is a semiconducting material which can be doped with nitrogen and phosphorus to produce an n-type semiconductor, or doped with boron, aluminum, or gallium to make a p-type semiconductor. This creates a wide bandgap; meaning electricity can flow much more readily at higher temperatures than with silicon. Furthermore, SiC’s thermal conductivity is exceptional; its temperature resistance extends up to 1600degC.

SiC semiconductors’ high-temperature performance makes them ideal for applications involving high-current applications such as electric cars. Electric cars require massive current flows in order to accelerate, while operating in hot environments like deserts or mountains – SiC’s superior heat resistance makes it the perfect solution.

Though SiC is rare in nature, it can be created synthetically through various processes. One option involves dissolving carbon in molten silicon; another option involves heating clay mixed with powdered coke in an electric furnace; or it can even be grown directly onto wafers via chemical vapor deposition processes.

Doping

Doping of silicon carbide semiconductors involves adding impurities into its crystal lattice to modify its properties and alter its characteristics. Doping can either be accomplished via ion implantation or during crystal growth process in-situ doping; although ion implantation is preferred due to its uniform doping across the surface, in-situ doping requires higher activation temperatures that could significantly degrade channel mobility of metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors, negatively affecting device performance.

Ion implantation also presents its share of disadvantages. Controlling dopant concentration precisely can be challenging, which could result in large variations to semiconductor band structure as well as numerous surface defects and reduced quality in silicon carbide products.

To overcome these problems, a novel doping method employing a boron compound has been devised. This boron compound is then applied directly onto silicon carbide surfaces using a solution containing methanol; this allows more evenly dispersed distribution of boron atoms across its surface, leading to improved quality in silicon carbide products and reduced activation annealing time (He et al. 2010; Tang et al. 2018; Sun et al. 2017b).