Electromechanical Computing at 500°C with Silicon Carbide

Abstract

High-Temperature Electronic Switching In electronic circuitry, the band gap of a semi-conductor helps to provide the barrier that keeps charge carriers from flowing until a voltage is applied that switches the device. As temperatures rise, the carriers acquire enough thermal energy to overcome the band gap, causing the device to leak current even when they are turned off. The higher band gap of silicon carbide (SiC) makes it an attractive candidate for higher-temperature operations compared to conventional silicon, but several performance issues occur with SiC junction field-effect transistors. T.-H. Lee et al. (p. 1316 ) describe the fabrication of SiC nano-electromechanical switches that formed inverter circuits with extremely low leakage currents and switched billions of times at 500°C.