Silicon carbide

There exists a need, especially in the cases of some military applications, for a stable, high‐temperature semiconductor material. Active and passive devices fabricated from such a material could operate in a high‐temperature ambient and simultaneously resist radiation damage. The most useful semiconductor materials, to date, have been the Group IV elements, germanium and silicon. Devices made from silicon, however, cannot be efficiently operated at temperatures in excess of 200 °C. Logically, one should next consider diamond, the cubic modification of carbon. At this time, however, the technological problems that one would encounter with diamond are formidable.

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