Integrated circuit technology for extreme environments has taken a step closer, with a study demonstrating the fabrication of heat-resistant silicon carbide (SiC) transistors on 6-inch wafers.
Having recently demonstrated that an individual, lab-scale SiC transistor could operate at 600°C, a team at Kyoto University in Japan has now shown that the technology can be scaled to 6-inch wafers.
SiC junction field effect transistor (JFET) technology has long been seen as ideal for developing electronics for extreme environments. For instance, Nasa is researching these chips for use in space applications due to their excellent radiation tolerance and high performance and reliability over an extremely wide operating temperature range.
However, functional electronic equipment requires integrated circuits containing many transistors, which are fabricated simultaneously on semiconductor wafers.
Having already proven that they could develop heat-resistant transistors, the team’s next step was to demonstrate...