Silicon (2022) 14:12887–12900

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-022-01998-9

ORIGINAL PAPER

A Comprehensive Review of Recent Progress, Prospect and Challenges

of Silicon Carbide and its Applications
Papanasam E1 · Prashanth Kumar B1 · Chanthini B1 · E. Manikandan1 · Lucky Agarwal1

Received: 21 March 2022 / Accepted: 20 June 2022 / Published online: 30 June 2022
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2022

Abstract
Energy efficient electronic design has become imperative due to the depletion of non-renewable energy resources, worldwide
increase in power consumption, and significant loss in energy conversion. Silicon Carbide (SiC) is one of the material exhibit-
ing excellent features with its physio and thermo-electric properties to operate in a harsh environments like high temperature,
corrosive, and radiation ambiance with low energy consumption. Further properties viz. similar thermal oxidation state like
silicon, good chemical stability in reactive environments enlarge the application spectrum of silicon carbide ranging from
simple abrasive material to substrate for GaN power amplifiers used in 5G massive multiple input multiple output (mMIMO)
applications and luminescent down shifting (LDS) layer in photovoltaic (PV) cells. It would be much interesting to acquaint
the properties, progress, and applications of such a noble material. In this review, the material properties of SiC are discussed
in detail with progress in the device fabrication. Finally, the major application domains of the SiC are discussed.

Keywords Semiconductors · Wide bandgap · Silicon carbide · Power devices · High temperature gas sensors · Solar cells

1 Introduction maximum junction temperature of insulated gate bipolar tran-

sistors (IGBTs), one of the most widely used silicon power
Environmental pollution and resulting climate change causes switches is limited to 125 °C [3]. High intrinsic carrier con-
serious threat to the lives on the earth. Sensors operating at centrations associated with relatively smaller band gap results
high temperature and corrosive ambience enable real time in high leakage current in silicon based devices at elevated
regulation of the system which helps to meet the environmen- temperature. Further, relatively low breakdown electric field
tal constraints for pollution control. Electricity generation and (~ 0.3 MV/cm) requires thicker drift region to achieve high
its efficient use is need of the hour to protect the environment breakdown voltage in silicon devices. Thicker drift region and
as it minimizes fuel consumption and reduces emission of resulting higher ON resistance results in larger conduction
greenhouse gases and other air pollutants. Power transistor losses of silicon power devices [4]. Further, many silicon high
capable of switching at higher voltage results in significant power systems suffer from poor efficiency due to significant
reduction in the loss of energy during conversion into usable energy loss arising from switching losses [5]. In practice, sili-
form. The above requirements necessitate development of con power systems operated at low frequency typically less
high temperature and high voltage switching semiconductor than 10 kHz as the converter power reduces with switching
devices. Functional temperature of semiconductor devices frequency as given in Fig. 1. Low frequency operation of sili-
restricted to intrinsic temperature at which intrinsic carrier con power systems increases the size of inductors, capacitors
concentration exceeds ionized doping concentration [1]. and other passive components. Larger passive components
Smaller band gap and resulting high intrinsic carrier concen- increases weight and volume of power conversion system
tration limits the intrinsic temperature of silicon based devices which is undesirable in modern high performance compact
to 370 °C for a doping concentration of 1­ 016 ­cm−3 [2]. The systems. Dotted line in Fig. 1 shows the area where silicon
based power devices cannot be used due to higher conver-
* Lucky Agarwal sion losses. Hence it becomes necessary to switch to wide
[email protected] band gap (WBG) semiconductors for different applications
viz. motor drive, automotive and aerospace which lie within
1
School of Electronics Engineering, Vellore Institute the marked line in Fig. 1.
of Technology, Chennai 600127, India

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12888 Silicon (2022) 14:12887–12900

switching frequency use of WBG semiconductors is inevi-

table in application area involving high power, high tempera-
ture and radhard environment. WBG semiconductors viz.
silicon carbide (SiC), gallium nitride (GaN) and diamond
having band gap higher than 2 eV are the possible substi-
tute to silicon for harsh environment applications. Being a
WBG material, development of diamond based semiconduc-
tor devices decimated by factors such as high temperature
device processing, mismatch in coefficient of thermal expan-
sion with packaging material and immature device fabrica-
tion technology [7]. Important material properties of other
two WBG semiconductors viz. SiC and GaN are compared
with silicon and presented in Fig. 2.
Larger band gap and resulting low intrinsic carrier con-
centration result in high intrinsic temperature of WBG
semiconductors. High breakdown electric field of WBG
Fig. 1  Converter power versus switching frequency of silicon power semiconductors enable reduction in thickness of drift region
switches [6] and higher doping concentration for the given voltage rat-
ing which reduces ON resistance of power devices as given
in Fig. 3 [8]. Lower on resistance resulting smaller forward
5 voltage drop and reduced system thermal load improve the
4.5 overall efficiency of WBG semiconductor power devices.
4 Apart from energy saving low loss power devices help to
3.5
protect the environment as it minimizes the usage of fossil
3
2.5
Si fuels for energy requirement. Twice the saturation velocity
2 SiC of WBG semiconductors as that of silicon enable high chan-
1.5 GaN nel current in microelectronic devices and higher switching
1 frequency of power devices [9].
0.5
Higher switching frequency results in substantial reduc-
0
Eg (eV) EB (MV/cm) μ x 1E3 Vsat x 1E7 λ (W/cm - K
ͦ ) tion of weight and overall size of power converters due to
(cm^2/V-sec) (cm/sec) smaller capacitors and inductors which benefit both transpor-
tation and power industries [10]. Emergence of WBG semi-
Fig. 2  Comparison of material properties of Si, SiC and GaN conductors enables the development of compact and high
efficiency power converters operating at higher - frequen-
cies, voltages and temperature which helps to fulfill cumula-
As the silicon based electronics has reached its limits tive demand of existing and evolving applications [11]. SiC
in terms of operating temperature, blocking voltage and is found to be promising among the WBG semiconductors

Fig. 3  WBG semiconductor

material properties (blue);
Characteristics advantages
resulting from WBG semicon-
ductors (red); power electronics
characteristics benefit (green);
and overall system benefits
(orange) [8]

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Silicon (2022) 14:12887–12900 12889

with features such as commercial availability of quality

substrate, well-developed integrated circuit processing, and
controlled doping [12–14]. The above features make SiC an
ideal candidate to replace silicon in high temperature and
high power applications. Use of SiC based power modules
reduce energy loss, systems size and cost compared with
conventional power modules. Non availability of GaN sub-
strate, low thermal conductivity even lower than silicon and
difficulty in achieving devices with higher power density in
GaN give an edge to SiC. There are few review reports on
the processing issue, material synthesis and specific applica-
tions of SiC [15–20]. However to the best of our knowledge
comprehensive review on material properties, device pro-
gress and broad coverage of applications of SiC are not yet
reported. In this work, material properties, device progress
and applications of SiC have been briefly discussed. Section Fig. 4  Crystal structure of 4H-SiC [10]
II of this work describes the material properties and advan-
tages of SiC. Milestone in fabrication process and device
development is discussed in section III. Wide spectrum of Table 1  Major thermo mechanical properties of SiC and silicon at
SiC application is briefed in section IV. Conclusion and room temperature [13]
future scope of this survey are given in section V. Properties 4H/6H-SiC Silicon
−3
Density (g ­cm ) 3.21 2.33
Young’s modulus (GPa) 390–690 160
2 Material Properties
Yield strength (GPa) 21 7
Thermal conductivity (­ Wcm−1 ­K−1) 3.3–4.9 1.4–1.5
2.1 Crystal Structure and Chemical Properties

SiC is the only compound of carbon and silicon and is com-

posed of tetrahedra of carbon and silicon atoms. SiC is avail- Si-face. Further, silicon carbide has an anisotropic oxidation
able in different crystal structures termed as polytypes each nature as the oxidation rate is a function of crystal orienta-
of which consisting of equal amount of carbon and silicon tion and polytype. SiC is very hard and robust material and
atoms covalently bonded. SiC polytypes with hexagonal do not react with any acids, alkalis or molten salts up to
crystal structure such as 4H and 6H-SiC are most extensively 800 °C. Further, larger Si-C bonding energy (4.6 eV) and
studied for device applications and is known as α-SiC while resulting resistance to both chemical attack and radiation
the only polytype with cubic crystal structure 3C-SiC has enable the use of SiC in harsh and radhard environment.
been used as a mechanical material in micro electro mechan-
ical systems (MEMS) applications. Each polytype of SiC is 2.2 Mechanical and Thermal Properties
composed of different stacking sequence of Si-C bilayers.
The difference in the stacking sequence of material lattice Major thermo mechanical properties of SiC is compared
structure results in a difference in the physical, electrical with silicon and is presented in Table 1. Low linear ther-
and thermal properties of different polytypes [10]. Factors mal expansion and high hardness (33,400 Mn/m2) second
such as high carrier mobility in the direction of c-axis and hardest material next to diamond, SiC is the most stable
low dopant ionization energy make 4H-SiC most fascinat- structure at 1800 °C. Hardness and Young’s modulus of SiC
ing polytype for power electronics applications [21]. Crystal are much higher than those of silicon. SiC beam structures
structure of 4H-SiC is shown in Fig. 4. have higher resonant frequencies and better quality factors
In Fig. 4 surface normal to c-axis terminated with silicon compared to their Si and GaAs counterparts due to larger
atom referred to as silicon-face while the opposite normal ratio between Young’s modulus and density [22]. At room
c-axis terminated with C atom referred to as carbon-face. temperature yield strength of SiC is three times as that of
SiC exhibits face terminated oxidation, i.e. it has different silicon. High purity SiC has higher thermal conductivity of
oxidation rates on Si and C face. Lower activation energy of 4.9 W ­cm−1 ­K−1 due to significant contribution from phonon
C-face results in faster oxidation of C-face compared to that and the same has been falls to 3.3 W ­cm−1 ­K−1 at room tem-
of Si-face under same oxidation conditions while the oxide perature for heavily nitrogen-doped 4H-SiC substrates [13].
grown on C-face exhibits higher interface state density than High thermal conductivity of SiC (4.7 W ­cm−1 ­K−1) higher

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12890 Silicon (2022) 14:12887–12900

than that of copper enable effective transportation of heat with SiC MOSFET. Use of SiC power modules minimizes
from devices resulting in lower worsening of carrier velocity the conduction and switching losses thereby improving
due to phonon scattering [23]. Also, high thermal conduc- the efficiency by 10% [26]. Lesser loss of energy results
tivity of SiC eliminates or minimizes the need for bulk and in significant reduction in cooling of devices while higher
expensive cooling systems required to protect the functional switching frequency enables designers to create smaller and
electronic devices from thermal degradation. Ability to place lighter electronic components which minimizes the footprint
un-cooled high-temperature SiC based devices directly in of the inverter and battery in electric vehicle. Higher switch-
to hotter environments facilitate significant benefits to aero- ing frequency and resulting smaller passive components
space and automotive industries as it removes weight pen- ensure high power density and significant reduction in the
alties coupled with thermal shielding, liquid cooling fans weight of power module. It has also been estimated that SiC
and longer wire runs [24]. High temperature operation with- power devices market would reach US$ 3 billion primarily
out additional cooling requirement and easy conduction of by hybrid electric vehicles (HEV). Two key advantages of
heat within the device into package make SiC suitable for SiC devices such as less loss of energy to waste heat and
high power applications. WBG, high thermal conductivity higher switching frequency enabled companies to use SiC
together with chemical stability in reactive environment power devices in lieu of silicon power devices which have
make SiC an excellent material for the detection of hazard- been used for decades. SiC become a material of choice for
ous gases in harsh environments such as vehicle exhaust, flue next generation high power applications to meet the growing
outlet and nuclear reactor. High temperature capability and demand for electricity as well as rapid charging in electric
corrosion resistance of SiC enable SiC based gas sensor to vehicles. Wide band gap and associated low intrinsic carrier
detect unwanted emission at the point of exhaust which helps concentration of SiC (17 orders of magnitude lower than Si)
in quick adjustment of the system for better fuel efficiency enable SiC MOS capacitors to maintain its deep depletion
and cleaner burning. state for a long duration resulting in longer charge retention
time of SiC non-volatile RAM, than their silicon counter-
2.3 Electrical Properties part [27]. Wider band gap and higher displacement threshold
energy (22–35 eV) than silicon or GaAs, enable SiC to sur-
Excellent electrical properties of SiC ensure better energy vive at hotter and strong radiation environments. As a low
efficiency in power conversion system when compared with atomic number compound with a thin depletion region, SiC
conventional silicon power devices. Approximately 10 times neutron detectors have exceptional gamma elimination abil-
higher breakdown field of SiC (~ 3 MV/cM) than silicon (~ ity which allows operating in high gamma backgrounds [28].
0.3 MV/cm) results in decrease in ideal specific on-resist- Further, three different figure of merits (FoM) viz. Johnson
ance of 4H-SiC devices by a factor of more than 1000-com- FoM, Keyes FoM and Baliga FoM used for the comparison
pared with silicon devices for the same voltage rating as of suitability of the materials for high frequency and high
specific on resistance is inversely proportional to cube of power applications are found to be larger for SiC when com-
critical electric field as given by Eq. (1) [25]. pared with most commonly used semiconductors viz. silicon
and GaAs as can be seen from Table 2.
4VBR 2
Ron,S(ideal) = (1)
𝜀SiC 𝜇n Ec 3
3 Progress in Fabrication Process Flow
Smaller on resistance of SiC together with majority car- and Device Development
rier conduction mechanism of MOSFET enable SiC MOS-
FET to achieve low switching losses at higher switching Though manufactured for over hundred years, SiC has found
frequency and high load current capability. High voltage its use in the power electronics industry quite recently. Its
on board chargers (OBC) with faster charging time is an noble physical and electrical properties enable use of this
important requirement of hybrid and electric vehicle (HEV). material in high voltage and high temperature applications.
In order to minimize the footprint of OBC in HEV vehicle it Factors such as poor crystal quality, order of magnitude
is necessary to reduce the size of passive components which
could be possible by switching the power devices at higher
frequency. Thermal load at high switching frequency limit Table 2  Comparison of Figure of Merit of SiC with Si and GaAs [29]
this approach in the case of silicon power devices while SiC Material Si GaAs 4H-SiC 6H-SiC
is ideally suited due to its excellent switching characteristics.
JFOM 1 9 1640 900
Switching frequency of DC / DC converter with silicon sem-
KFOM 1 0.41 5.9 5
iconductor is limited to 25 KHz due to higher power dissi-
BFOM 1 22 1840 920
pation whereas switching frequency of 160 KHz is possible

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Silicon (2022) 14:12887–12900 12891

higher interface state density than similarly oxidized sili- tunneling as it offers higher physical thickness for the given
con MOSFET have hindered the improvement of both SiC- equivalent oxide thickness [39, 40]. Martin Hauck et al.
based power MOSFETs and insulated-gate bipolar transis- [41] have developed an analysis for accurate determination
tors (IGBTs). Higher interface state density of SiC MOSFET of device parameters viz. mobility, charge carrier density,
could be attributed to formation of carbon clusters at the and threshold voltage of even packaged SiC MOSFETs
interface due to incomplete oxidation of SiC [30]. High from simple three terminal characteristics which would
interface state density ­(Dit) near the conduction band edge speed up development cycles in energy-saving power elec-
causes trapping of substantial fraction of channel electrons tronics. PRESiCE™ - PRocess Engineered for manufactur-
thereby preventing their contribution to channel current. ing SiC Electronic devices, a new manufacturing process
And those trapped electrons cause Coulomb scattering of and chip design flow for silicon carbide power devices has
the remaining free electrons in the channel which causes been developed by researchers from North Carolina State
further reduction in electron mobility [31, 32]. Low channel University. Since companies need not initially develop their
mobility is an important parameter contributing to higher on own design and manufacturing process for power devices,
resistance ­(RON) and resulting power dissipation. Nitridation development of SiC based new products become simpler
process during thermal oxidation and post oxidation anneal- with PRESiCE. B. Jayant Baliga has reported that JBS rec-
ing are found to be effective in significantly reducing the tifier and power MOSFETs manufactured using third gen-
defects and associated interface problems thereby improv- eration PRESiCE™ have overall yield exceeding 90% [42].
ing channel mobility [33–36]. P. Esakky et al. [37] have In high power switching applications SiC semiconductor
reported that post metallization annealing in forming gas for devices viz. diodes, JFETs and MOSFETs are widely used.
40 minutes duration lessens interface state density by two First commercial SiC Schottky diode was introduced in
orders of magnitude in a Pd/HfO2/6H-SiC metal insulator 2001 and is widely used in power factor correction (PFC)
semiconductor (MIS) capacitors. circuits and IGBT power modules. The voltage rating of
Like Si, SiC has ­SiO2 as its stable native oxide. How- SiC Schottky diodes can go up to 10 kV while that of sili-
ever, relatively low dielectric constant of S ­ iO2 than SiC con is limited to 200 V. Progress in SiC power devices and
results in 2.5 times higher electric field in S
­ iO2 than in SiC. wafer production is presented in Fig. 5.
This inequity restricts the operation of SiC MOS devices Co-pairing SiC Schottky diodes with Si IGBTs offer a
to a substrate electric field far below the breakdown field cost-effective solution and substituting Si PN diode with
of SiC to avoid early breakdown of gate dielectric. This SiC Schottky diode results in reduction in total switch-
results in underutilization of high breakdown field of SiC ing loss by 25% [13, 44]. Further, as a freewheeling ele-
one of the material’s main advantages for high-power appli- ment SiC Schottky diode enable super junction devices to
cations [38]. Replacing ­SiO2 with high-κ dielectric ensure achieve best performance [45]. Increase in leakage current
high electric field operation of SiC MIS structure. Fur- at higher temperature due to Schottky barrier lowering effect
ther, high-κ gate dielectric reduces the gate leakage due to results in restriction of SiC Schottky barrier diode (SBD)

Fig. 5  Landmarks in SiC power electronics development [43]

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12892 Silicon (2022) 14:12887–12900

blocking voltage to 600 V while junction barrier Schottky 4.2 Blue LED and Substrate
(JBS) diode one of the most commercially used SiC diode
offers outstanding performance over a wide range of volt- Research on SiC as a semiconductor emerged in 1960 fol-
ages 600–3300 V [13, 46]. Xiaochuan Deng et al. [47] have lowing the successful growth of pure SiC crystal using
fabricated novel area efficient ultra-high voltage SiC junc- sublimation technique by Lely. Lely developed a mini-
tion barrier Schottky rectifier with highest Baliga’s figure- environment for crystal growth similar to growth in voids
of-merit (BFOM) of 5.6 GW/cm2. in Acheson process [55]. Development of high-temperature
First commercial SiC field effect device, JFET was intro- devices and blue light-emitting diodes were the main target
duced in 2006. Easy implementation and absence of gate application of SiC semiconductor. SiC blue light emitting
oxide reliability issue make JFET a favorable SiC device. diode (LED) was the only commercial blue electrolumines-
In 2011, Cree released 1.2 kV SiC MOSFET, as a power cent light source in late 1980 and was surpassed in intensity
switch, SiC MOSFET is a power-saving replacement for sili- by direct band gap GaN based LED. However, factors such
con IGBT and offer good balance between switching and as lack of GaN native substrate, high thermal conductivity
conduction losses for blocking voltages below 2.5–3.3 kV. and small lattice mismatch of SiC with GaN made SiC a
In 2014, M/s General Electric (GE) demonstrated industry’s suitable substrate for GaN devices [13]. High thermal stress
first reliable SiC MOSFET with maximum junction tem- of GaN film due to large mismatch of lattice constants and
perature of 200 °C while V. Pala et al. [48] have reported resulting large number of defects in epitaxial layer made
15 kV SiC MOSFET, the highest blocking voltage. Tong- the growth of high quality GaN film on silicon substrate
tong Yang et al. [49] proposed heterojunction-based double challenging. Lowest lattice mismatch rate and thermal mis-
trench MOS (DTMOS) structure with improved dynamic match rate in comparison with sapphire and silicon enable
figure of merit value and considerably less reverse recovery growth of high quality GaN epitaxial layer on SiC substrate.
charge. H. Jiang et al. [50] have proposed split gate MOS- Being a conductive substrate SiC increases the luminous
FET (SG-MOSFET) with significantly lower gate-to-drain area of LED as the substrate is used as the lower electrode
charge ­(QGD) and a better ­QGD × ­Ron than the conventional which made it possible vertical LED. Further, uniform cur-
MOSFET. rent distribution density of vertical LEDs circumvent the
issue of local overheating and LEDs made on SiC substrate
can carry higher positive current (https://​www.​samat​erials.​
com/​conte​nt/​the-​break​throu​gh-​of-​silic​on-​carbi​de-​subst​rate-​
4 Applications in-​led-i​ ndust​ ry.​html). F. Fuchs et al. [56] have demonstrated
realization of electrically driven room temperature single
4.1 Abrasive and Ceramic photon source for information processing and quantum tel-
ecommunication. Electron hole recombination through two
The first industrial application of SiC was cutting, grinding defect centers in SiC viz. D1 defect and Silicon valley defect
and polishing using SiC powder prepared by Acheson pro- ­(Vsi) causes two strong emission bands in the visible and
cess. Acheson mixed coke and silica in the electric smelt- near infrared (NIR) spectral ranges making two colors LED.
ing furnace and developed a product called Carborundum Figure 6 presents room temperature electro luminescence
the name by which SiC known popularly in eighteenth from two bands one at 550 nm and other at 950 nm which
century. The product was characterized by high level of falls under visible and NIR band respectively through the
hardness, infusibility and refractability and has been used defect centers in SiC.
for more than hundred years in grinding wheels as abra- Electronics for electric motor drive and high temperature
sive [51]. As a ceramic, SiC is widely used in automotive gas sensors are the other two important applications where
brakes, clutches and bulletproof vests. High performance SiC has an advantage over traditional solid state technolo-
ceramic disc is one of the primary uses of SiC and is used gies such as Si or GaAs.
in sports car and supercar as brake discs. SiC brake discs
are considerably lighter, compared to conventional gray 4.3 Power Modules and Electric Vehicles
cast iron brake disks and offer higher strength, thermal
and fading stability [52]. Further, as an oil additive, SiC Rapid development in automotive and 5G technology has
reduces emissions, friction, and harmonics in automobile driven the market value of ‘third-generation’ semiconduc-
parts [53]. Functionally graded material with extended tor materials viz. silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride
mechanical and wear features for use in the production of (GaN) to $180 m and $3 m, respectively. Low on-resistance
gears, brake drums and bearings has been prepared using and low switching loss of SiC and GaN improve the battery
Al7075/SiC by changing the number of layers and weight life and development of power devices on SiC and GaN is
fractions of SiC [54]. closely connected with the advancement in electric vehicles

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Silicon (2022) 14:12887–12900 12893

3.3 kV/1200A Si IGBT/SiC JBS diode which reduces total

losses by 35%, and system weight and volume by 40%. High
power density is one of the critical requirements of power
electronics circuits in electric vehicles and could be achieved
by SiC devices. It has been reported by M/s Ford Motor that
40% reduction in switching losses could be achieved using
SiC MOSFETs with an overall 5% improvement in fuel effi-
ciency [61]. Toyota reported that replacing Si PIN diodes
with SiC SBD reduces the losses in a boost converter by 30%
resulting in a 0.5% increase in efficiency.

4.4 Gas Sensor
Fig. 6  Single photon emission at 550 nm and 950 nm due to electron-
hole recombination through the ­D1 and ­VSi defects in SiC [56] Rise in number of vehicles for public and personal transport
results in increase in environmental pollution which causes
[57]. Excellent heat dissipation performance of GaN-on-SiC respiratory disease as the vehicle emission contains different
made it suitable for high-frequency operation and enables its toxic gases. SiC based gas sensor are used for measuring the
use in 5G base stations. Superior thermal conductivity, stur- concentration of hydrogen, hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide
diness and a good lattice match to GaN gives performance and other gases in vehicle exhaust and cryogenic propel-
benefits of GaN on SiC over GaN on Si. For the given power lant leak detection systems [62]. In fuel cells and hydrogen
output, the size of the GaN on SiC power amplifier is smaller driven vehicle, catalytic-metal/dielectric/SiC MIS based
and requires smaller heat sinks than GaN on Si devices. SiC gas sensors are used for leak detection and monitoring the
Schottky diode could operate up to 1000 V without impos- concentration of H ­ 2 below the explosive limit. SiC based
ing reverse recovery loss. SBDs are employed in a range ­H2 gas sensors are also used in other industries such as food
of power systems viz. switch-mode power supplies, motor processing, power station cooling and electronic fabrica-
controls for elevators and subways, photovoltaic converters tion processing where leakage of ­H2 is inevitable. O. Casals
and air conditioners. Based on the extent to which SiC com- et al. [63] have reported that sensors based on Pt/TaOx/SiO2/
ponents employed in power modules the size and weight of SiC MIS capacitors detect hydrogen at a level of 1 ppm,
power converters could be reduced by a factor of 4–10 [45]. and CO at a level of 2 ppm under the extreme ambience of
Significant improvement in SiC devices results in higher 45% of water vapour by volume ratio to N ­ 2. R. Pascu et al.
percentage of acceptance of SiC power conversion systems [64] have investigated hydrogen sensing capability of Pd/
in industry as well as in critical applications such as renewa- HfO2/4H-SiC capacitor with oxide ramp termination and
ble energy generations, rail traction, Hybrid electric vehicles reported that sensor response increases with temperature
(HEVs), motor drives and UPS in data centers. SiC semi- and reaches a maximum sensitivity of 80% at 450 ͦ K. Lian
conductors are ideal for applications viz. OBC and invert- Sun et al. [65] have demonstrated the ability of SiC nano
ers used within plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and fully electric sheets to detect the hazardous gases viz. ammonia, methonal,
vehicles (EVs). Low power loss during on and off of SiC ethanol and acetone at a higher temperature of 500 ͦ C with
power switches, enable high current flow at higher frequen- rapid response and recovery time of 8 to 39 seconds and 12
cies. High frequency operation of SiC power switches with to 69 seconds respectively. SiC based gas sensors provide
lower losses results in reduction in the size of capacitor and excellent selectivity and sensitivity towards hydrogen and
coil which account for around 40% of the size of the power hydrocarbons.
control unit [58]. Mukesh kumar et al. [66] have investigated the effect
U. Schwarzer et al. [59] have demonstrated that use of film thickness of SiC on the hydrogen sensing property of
SiC JFETs and SiC diodes results in 20% cost saving in Pd/SiC thin film deposited on silicon substrate. It has been
17 kW solar inverter. Weight density of commercialized reported that change in electrical resistance is fully revers-
solar inverter with Si IGBT is less than 0.38 kW/kg while ible at 250 °C during hydrogenation and dehydrogenation
50-kW SiC MOSFET-based photovoltaic inverter achieved process and sensor made from Pd/SiC thin film offers excel-
the desirable weight density of 1 kW/kg for roof top appli- lent sensitivity to hydrogen gas with response time of 18 s.
cations with considerable increase in switching frequency. Arvind kumar et al. have demonstrated that.
M. Furuhashi et al. (2016) [60] have demonstrated that SiC Pd/SiC Nano cauliflowers (NCs) thin films exhibit excel-
modules embedded traction inverter reduces loss by 55% lent stability of 24 cycles towards hydrogen at temperature
compared to a conventional silicon counterpart. Hitachi 380 °C with detection range of 100 ppm and response/
developed a two-level traction drive system based on a recovery time of 10s and 18 s respectively. SiC NCs films

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12894 Silicon (2022) 14:12887–12900

were deposited on porous silicon substrate by DC magne- SiC based gas sensors were also fabricated for sensing
taron co-sputtering and the schematic diagram of the sput- other gases such as sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide (CO),
tering system is shown in Fig. 7.The fabricated gas sensor ammonia ­(NH3) and Nitrogen dioxide ­(NO2). A. Gaiardo
can work at high working temperature of above the 500 °C et al. [69] have demonstrated use of thick films of SiC as a
and low detection range of 5 to500ppm [67]. Pt/SiC nanob- functional material for chemoresistive gas sensors. Analy-
all sensor grown on porous silicon substrate exhibits very sis shows that sample is exceptionally selective to sulphur
good response of 45% to 100 ppm Hydrogen at temperature dioxide ­(SO2) among 13 different gases and the same has
330 °C with faster response time of 15 s [68]. Very good been presented in Fig. 8. Further different characterization
response and recovery behavior was absorbed on the devel- techniques reveals that thermal formation of a SiC/SiOC
oped sensing materials at elevated temperature and harsh core-shell stimulated high selectivity of the SiC layer.
environment. SiC based nanotubes were also fabricated for the gas sens-
ing applications [71, 72]. The performance of SiC nanotubes
has exhibited better sensitivity compared with the carbon
nanotubes and Boron nitride nanotubes. Better gas sensing
performance was observed in SiC nanotubes towards ­CO2
[73, 74]. A highly sensitive and selective SiC gas sensor was
fabricated using glass substrate and the design was realized
using MEMS technology [75]. Figure 9 shows the fabrica-
tions process of the SiC sensor on glass substrate. The SiC
based materials were also used for other applications like
piezoresistive pressure sensor [76].
A piezoelectric pressure sensor was fabricated with bulk
SiC material. It has shown excellent performance when com-
pared with other SiC based pressure sensors [77]. There are
huge numbers of works in the literature reporting the advan-
tages of using Si as sensing material and there other works
highlighting the applications of the SiC sensors [77–81].
Figure 10 present wide spectrum of application of SiC nano
architecture ranging from bio imaging, photocatalysis,
Fig. 7  Schematic diagram of the DC magnetron co-sputtering tech-
nique used for the fabrication of Pd decorated SiC NCs sensor. chemotheraphy and bio sensing so on [82].
Reproduced from ref. [67] with permission from Elsevier

Fig. 8  Summary histograms

of SiC sensor responses vs.
gases tested at different working
temperatures, in a dry air and
b in presence of 13% of RH%.
Reproduced from Ref [70] with
permission from Elsevier

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Silicon (2022) 14:12887–12900 12895

Fig. 9  Fabrication process flow

of SiC temperature sensors and
heaters on a glass substrate, (a)
Bonding of SiC/Si on glass;
(b) Si removal to form SiC
on glass; (c) Photoresist (PR)
coating; (d) PR patterning; (e)
Etching SiC; (f) Ni deposition;
(g) Ni etching; (h) Photographic
image of the SiC thermal
sensor; (i) Scanning Electron
Microscope (SEM) image of
the SiC/glass thermal sensor;
(j) Geometric sketch of the SiC
thermal sensor. Reproduced
from ref. [74] with permission
from Elsevier

4.5 Bio Sensors and Photonic Applications

Superior properties of WBG materials ensure long term sta-

bility under physiological conditions which makes it suitable
for biological applications as well [83]. High resistance to
corrosion in harsh environments such as body fluids result-
ing from chemical inertness, low friction coefficient and
high elastic modulus make SiC a perfect material for smart-
implants and in-vivo biosensors [84, 85]. Robustness similar
to diamond resulting from firm s­ p3 bonding and excellent
heat conduction are the key to different applications of SiC.
Excellent bioelectrical properties of SiC make it an ideal
substrate for bio-electrodes which ensure all-biocompatible,
non-metalic biomedical system [86, 87]. Use of graphene on
0001 face of SiC enable establishment of many experiments
including functional electronics and variety of chemical and
biological sensors can be manufactured from the SiC/gra-
phene material systems [88].
Superior optical properties such as high refractive index
Fig. 10  SiC nano-architecture for diverse applications. Reproduced and low thermo optic coefficient along with high thermal
from Ref [82] with permission from Elsevier conductivity and wide band gap of SiC enable the feasibility

13
12896 Silicon (2022) 14:12887–12900

of making robust and closely integrated photonic devices

using CMOS compatible nano fabrication at low cost [89].
Further, good mechanical properties viz. high Mho’s hard-
ness and Young’s modulus make SiC modulator incompa-
rable for high power electro-optic applications and incorpo-
ration with CMOS electronics. Opto electronic integration
using 3C-SiC is simpler among other SiC polytypes as it has
the largest measured EO coefficient (~ 2.7 pm/V at 633 nm)
and equal elements of the EO tensor [90]. SiC EO modulator
unwrap new prospects for direct optoelectronic integration
using CMOS foundries which benefit several applications
ranging from optical networks, quantum information, RF
and microwave photonics. Keith Powell et al. [91] have Fig. 11  Frequency Vs index of refraction and the power absorption
demonstrated integration of Pockels modulator in SiC with characteristics of SiC [99]
CMOS electronics compatible drive voltage, a small device
imprint, and uninterrupted low-noise data modulation at
high optical intensities. With superior properties and high
electron mobility SiC qualified as a candidate for realizing
monolithic integration of quantum and nonlinear photon-
ics as well as a fascinating semiconductor for future CMOS
electronics .

4.6 Terahertz Applications

Terahertz is a band of frequencies that lies between micro-

wave and thermal regions and utilized for many applications
like imaging, drug detection in the pharmaceutical industry,
sensing of an analyte, security scanning, high frequency 6G
communication, nondestructive evaluation, etc. [92]. But
during the initial developments periods, there was a lack
of high power sources and detectors for terahertz applica- Fig. 12  Frequency Vs normalized power spectrum inset: electric field
amplitude [99]
tions [93–97]. For fabricating high power high frequency
IMPATT diodes, Ge and Si materials were used initially.
But nowadays, Ge-based devices are not in existence. The in the rectification and generation process. The obtained
majority of the devices are being fabricated using Si and THz emission from 6H-SiC crystal is shown in Fig. 11. It
its compound materials. Among Si compounds, SiC has is observed that a broad spectrum with the bandwidth of
attracted the THz research community due to its properties 3 THz is achieved using 6H-SiC. For the detection, ZnTe
viz. wide bandgap, ability to withstand high power, and high crystal-based electro-optic detection technique is adopted.
temperature. SiC is a group IV-IV compound material hav- The properties like an index of refraction and absorption
ing different polytypes among them, 3C-SiC exhibit better of 6H-SiC are done using THz time-domain spectroscopy
performance in generating mm-wave and THz frequencies (THz-TDS) and the corresponding results are depicted in
due to the better electrons and holes mobility characteristics. Fig. 12. The 6H-SiC has a refractive index of nearly 3 in
Compared to 4H-SiC 3C-SiC exhibit better performance the broad range and an average absorption rate of 5 ­cm−1.
i.e. generating high-frequency signals with high efficiency It can be compared with the other materials like ZnTe for
due to less series resistance characteristics. In addition, SiC generation, 6H-SiC has achieved broadband and linear char-
has better chemical and mechanical stability characteristics acteristics in the mentioned range [99].
which further makes it a promising candidate for high-fre- The advancements in terahertz sources and detectors
quency applications [97, 98]. made the scientific community work on the development of
The emission of THz radiation was done using an optical terahertz active and passive components like filters, metama-
rectification process. In optical rectification, a Ti:Sapphire terials, antennas, etc. Silicon and its compounds viz. silicon
femtosecond laser is used as a source for optical pumping nitride, silicon carbide, and silicon dioxide are widely used
and when the rays pass through 6H-SiC THz is generated. as substrate material in terahertz systems. SiC is transpar-
The pumping angle and its polarization play a vital role ent in the THz regime till 11.3 THz and also possess high

13
Silicon (2022) 14:12887–12900 12897

photosensitivity spectral response of the silicon solar cells

[100, 101]. Benfadel et al. have demonstrated the use of
β-SiC nanoparticles based antireflective layers to prepare
SiC- PVA composite thin films which act as a LDS layer
for the wavelength conversion of solar cells [102]. Benfadel
et al. have investigated the improvement in photoelectri-
cal parameters of c-Si solar cell with the use of SiC/PVA
composite thin films as LDS layers. The study proved that
inclusion of SiC-PVA composite film as LDS layer increases
the short circuit current density which improves the power
conversion efficiency of solar cell [103].

5 Conclusions
Fig. 13  THz detection setup using Graphene based photoconductive Comprehensive review of SiC crystal structure, device pro-
antenna integrated with the SiC semiconductor based Schottky diode gress and its applications are presented in this paper. As a
and its scanning electron microscopic images [86]
wide band semiconductor, SiC appreciably reduces power
losses and enable operation at higher - temperatures, volt-
refractive index. Ultra-fast photocurrents in SiC devices ages, and frequencies while reducing the heat dissipation.
result in THz generation within a SiC wafer. Being non- SiC based catalytic gas sensors are useful for the detection
destructive and non-ionizing, the THz range is beneficial of ­H2 leak in fuel cell stack and hydrogen driven vehicle
compared to X-rays and THz systems are used for quality and unwanted gas emission at the vehicle exhaust. With its
control. Schottky diodes-based THz imaging and spectros- noble physio and thermo electric properties, SiC become
copy are proved to be useful methods for the detection of an alternative to silicon for harsh environment applications.
drugs and explosives. Schlecht, M.T. et al. [83] presented However, SiC will never dislodge silicon for the manufac-
a THz detecting device on the graphene/SiC material plat- ture of low-voltage analog and digital chips operating in
form based on a metal-semiconductor Schottky diode, and typical human environments. SiC based devices are pre-
the corresponding fabricated structure is depicted in Fig. 13. ferred to work in extreme conditions like high power and
Thus, noble properties of SiC made SiC an efficient material temperature due to its rugged nature. There are factors such
for THz applications. as materials quality, awkward driving requirement and high
production cost impeding the fast transition to SiC sub-
4.7 SiC in Solar Energy strate. Improvements in material quality, higher volume of
production and development of more non-proprietary pro-
As a renewable energy source, solar cell helps to safeguard cess technology would enable even smaller companies to
the environment and human health as it lessen the use of enter SiC market and develop new products. Power conver-
petroleum which emits hazardous gases. In present photo- sion system based on SiC are promising and being accepted
voltaic (PV) technologies, the response of the photoactive by industry. It is used in many vital applications such as
material reduces for lower wavelengths. Enhancing the effi- EVs, UPS, traction and solar power systems. It could be
ciency of solar cell is a major challenge of many research- concluded that SiC undoubtedly play an important role in
ers and inductries. Use of luminescent down shifting (LDS) energy conversion industry and high temperature applica-
layers as an anti-reflective coating on top of the silicon solar tions for at least next decade.
cells is the most studied efforts to enhance the wavelength
range of photovoltaic materials. Silicon carbide nanoparti-
Author Contributions First author has done the literature survey and
cles with its fascinating photoluminescence properties can
prepared the manuscript.
be used as an antireflective and wave length conversion layer Second author has significantly contributed in the introduction sec-
in PV cell. Kaci S et al. have demonstrated the application tion of the manuscript.
of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/SiC based LDS layer on a tex- Third author has contributed towards the gas sensing application.
Fourth author has prepared the THz application.
tured Si solar cell results in significant improvement in light
Corresponding author has given valuable suggestions and done the
conversion efficiency resulting from increase in short cir- overall correction of the manuscript.
cuit current (Isc). Further, the wavelength of photon down-
shifted by PVA/SiC based LDS have better match with the Availability of Data and Material Not applicable.

13
12898 Silicon (2022) 14:12887–12900

Declarations 16. Alves LFS et al (2017) SiC power devices in power electronics:
An overview. Brazilian Power Electronics Conference (COBEP),
Juiz de Fora, Brazil, pp 1–8
Conflicts of Interest/Competing Interests The authors have no conflict
17. Sohor MAHM, Mustapha M, Kurnia JC (2017) Silicon carbide-
of interest.
from synthesis to application: a review. MATEC Web Conf, vol
131, p 04003
Consent to Participate Not applicable.
18. Roccaforte F, Greco G, Fiorenza P (2018) Processing issues in
SiC and GaN power devices technology: the cases of 4H-SiC pla-
Consent for Publication Not applicable.
nar MOSFET and recessed hybrid GaN MISHEMT. International
Semiconductor Conference (CAS), Sinaia, Romania, pp 7–16
19. Wright NG, Horsfall AB (2007) SiC sensors: a review. J Phys D
Appl Phys 40(20):6345
20. Katoh Y, Snead LL (2019) Silicon carbide and its composites
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