Silicon carbide as a material for mainstream electronics

SiC is emerging as the only semiconductor material other than silicon that can have electronically passivated surface to industrial standards. The surface passivation is the main reason for the dominance of silicon technology, but SiC has favorable bulk properties. This combination of factors raises the question whether SiC can play a role in mainstream electronics (integrated-circuit based complex systems). Addressing this question in this paper, it is concluded that SiC integration with silicon wafers is the most likely trigger of an evolutionary chain of investment and development steps, which has the potential to significantly influence future development of mainstream electronics. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.