Physical Properties of SiC

Abstract

While silicon carbide has been an industrial product for over a century, it is only now emerging as the semiconductor of choice for high-power, high-temperature, and high-radiation environments. From electrical switching and sensors for oil drilling technology to all-electric airplanes, SiC is finding a place which is difficult to fill with presently available Si or GaAs technology. In 1824 Jöns Jakob Berzelius published a paper which suggested there might be a chemical bond between the elements carbon and silicon. It is a quirk of history that he was born in 1779 in Linköping, Sweden where he received his early education, and now, 172 years later, Linkoping University is the center of a national program in Sweden to study the properties of SiC as a semiconductor.