Overview

Semiconductor technology can be traced back to at least 150 200 years ago, when scientists and engineers living on the western shores of Lake Victoria produced carbon steel made from iron crystals rather than by 'the sintering of solid particles' [1]. Since that time, silicon and silicon-based materials have played a major role in the development of modern semiconductor device technology. The earliest pioneering work in SiC as a semiconductor material can be attributed to the Marconi company in 1907 [2]. They observed SiC electroluminescence for the first time. For almost 50 years, the work by the Marconi company appeared to go unnoticed. In 1955, Lely [3] developed a sublimation process using a growth cavity that produced rather pure platelets of SiC. The individual crystals were randomly sized and primarily hexagonal in shape. The process provided no control over the nucleation and orientation of these platelets. Since that time the interest in SiC as a semiconductor material can best be described as a roller-coaster ride with many peaks and valleys.

The first international conference on SiC was held in Boston, Massachusetts in 1959. Over 500 scientists attended the conference and 46 papers were presented. In 1968 and 1973, two other International Conferences were held, the last in Miami Beach. For almost ten years, the SiC effort in the USA, and around the world, went through another valley, except in the then USSR where the research effort remained fairly constant. This valley, or lack of interest, has been 'blamed on the...