ABSTRACT
Silicon power device technology has matured to a point where it has largely achieved its theoretical limits. The development of diode, MOSFET, insulated gate bipolar transistors, and thyristor device technology in silicon has settled the applications where each of these devices can most effectively be used. The critical electric field is the breakdown electric field of the material. The critical electric field being larger in silicon carbide (SiC) contributes to the higher blocking voltage capability of SiC devices. The lower intrinsic carrier concentration of wider bandgap materials means that the device will hold its performance at elevated temperatures. Gallium nitride devices have been fabricated on a variety of starting substrates due to the difficulty of creating high-quality gallium nitride substrates onto which the devices can be fabricated. Silicon carbide power devices have received a substantial amount of attention in the past decade from the research community. Power devices for extreme environments generally mean wide bandgap material systems.
