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SiC based Miniaturized Devices

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A special issue of Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X). This special issue belongs to the section "D：Materials and Processing".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2019) | Viewed by 44958

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Stephen Edward Saddow

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Guest Editor

Department of Electrical Engineering, University of South Florida, 4202 East Fowler Avenue, ENB118, Tampa, FL 33620, USA
Interests: SiC; neural interfaces; SiC MEMS; biotechnology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Daniel Alquier

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Guest Editor

University of Tours GREMAN (UMR-CNRS 7347), 16 rue Pierre et Marie CURIE, BP 7155, CEDEX 2, 37071 TOURS, France
Interests: wide band gap (SiC & GaN); Power devices; MEMS; NEMS; material processing; doping

Prof. Dr. Jing Wang

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Guest Editor

Department of Electrical Engineering, University of South Florida, 4202 East Fowler Avenue, ENB118 Tampa, FL 33620, USA
Interests: advanced manufacturing; MEMS/NEMS transducers; nanomaterials and nanotechnology; microfluidics and biosensors; RF/microwave electronics
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Prof. Dr. Francesco La Via

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IMM-CNR sezione di Catania, Strada VIII 5 - Zona Industriale, I-95121 Catania, Italy
Interests: silicon carbide; growth; defects; MEMS; detectors
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Dr. Mariana Fraga

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Guest Editor

Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Rua Talim 330, São José dos Campos - SP, 12231-280, Brazil
Interests: materials science; energy; microelectronics; aerospace engineering; biomedical engineering and bioengineering
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

MEMS devices are found in many of today’s electronic devices and systems, from air-bag sensors in cars to smart phones, embedded systems, etc. Increasingly, the reduction in dimensions has led to nanometer-scale devices, called NEMS. The plethora of applications on the commercial market speaks for itself, and especially for the highly precise manufacturing of silicon-based MEMS and NEMS. While this is a tremendous achievement, silicon as a material has some drawbacks, mainly in the area of mechanical fatigue and thermal properties. Silicon carbide (SiC), a well-known wide-bandgap semiconductor whose adoption in commercial products is experiening exponential growth, especially in the power electronics arena. While SiC MEMS have been around for decades, in this Special Issue we seek to capture both an overview of the devices that have been demonstrated to date, as well as bring new technologies and progress in the MEMS processing area to the forefront. Thus, this Special Issue seeks to showcase research papers, short communications, and review articles that focus on: (1) novel designs, fabrication, control, and modeling of SiC MEMS and NEMS based on all kinds of actuation mechanisms; and (2) new developments in applying SiC MEMS and NEMS in consumer electronics, optical communications, industry, medicine, agriculture, space, and defense.

Prof. Dr. Stephen Edward Saddow
Prof. Dr. Daniel Alquier
Prof. Dr. Jing Wang
Dr. Francesco La Via
Dr. Mariana Fraga
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Micromachines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

SiC microsystems
SiC MEMS
SiC biomedical devices
SiC micromachines
SiC microsensors

Related Special Issue

SiC Based Miniaturized Devices, Volume II in Micromachines (3 articles)

Published Papers (11 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research, Review

2 pages, 164 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Editorial for the Special Issue on SiC Based Miniaturized Devices

by Stephen E. Saddow, Daniel Alquier, Jing Wang, Francesco LaVia and Mariana Fraga

Micromachines 2020, 11(4), 405; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11040405 - 13 Apr 2020

Viewed by 1471

Abstract

The MEMS devices are found in many of today’s electronic devices and systems, from air-bag sensors in cars to smart phones, embedded systems, etc [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue SiC based Miniaturized Devices)

Research

Jump to: Editorial, Review

27 pages, 8784 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Advances in High-Resolution Radiation Detection Using 4H-SiC Epitaxial Layer Devices

by Krishna C. Mandal, Joshua W. Kleppinger and Sandeep K. Chaudhuri

Micromachines 2020, 11(3), 254; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11030254 - 28 Feb 2020

Cited by 39 | Viewed by 4226

Abstract

Advances towards achieving the goal of miniature 4H-SiC based radiation detectors for harsh environment application have been studied extensively and reviewed in this article. The miniaturized devices were developed at the University of South Carolina (UofSC) on 8 × 8 mm 4H-SiC epitaxial layer wafers with an active area of ≈11 mm². The thicknesses of the actual epitaxial layers were either 20 or 50 µm. The article reviews the investigation of defect levels in 4H-SiC epilayers and radiation detection properties of Schottky barrier devices (SBDs) fabricated in our laboratories at UofSC. Our studies led to the development of miniature SBDs with superior quality radiation detectors with highest reported energy resolution for alpha particles. The primary findings of this article shed light on defect identification in 4H-SiC epilayers and their correlation with the radiation detection properties. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue SiC based Miniaturized Devices)

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18 pages, 5824 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Modeling and Analysis of v_gs Characteristics for Upper-Side and Lower-Side Switches at Turn-on Transients for a 1200V/200A Full-SiC Power Module

by Maosheng Zhang, Na Ren, Qing Guo, Xiangwen Zhu, Junming Zhang and Kuang Sheng

Micromachines 2020, 11(1), 5; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11010005 - 18 Dec 2019

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2925

Abstract

In this work, a 1200V/200A full-SiC half-bridge power module was fabricated for high-power high-frequency application, and the characteristics of gate-source voltage (

v_{g s}

) at turn-on transient under different output power was investigated via experiments, modeling, and simulation. Also, the comparison [...] Read more.

In this work, a 1200V/200A full-SiC half-bridge power module was fabricated for high-power high-frequency application, and the characteristics of gate-source voltage (

v_{g s}

) at turn-on transient under different output power was investigated via experiments, modeling, and simulation. Also, the comparison of the

v_{g s}

characteristics between the upper-side and lower-side was conducted. From experiments, the

v_{g s}

characteristics show negative spike issue and it becomes severe under higher output power conditions. On the other hand, the upper-side and lower-side show different characteristics, namely, the

v_{g s}

spike of upper-side is superimposed by a 83.3 MHz high frequency oscillation during the process of

v_{g s}

being pulled down, while the

v_{g s}

spike of lower-side contains no oscillation. The mechanisms behind the influence of output power on the

v_{g s}

spike characteristics and their difference between the upper-side and lower-side were studied via modeling and simulation. Equivalent RLC (resistance-inductance-capacitance) circuit models were proposed and established for the gate driver loops of the upper-side and lower-side based on the internal structure of the power module. With the help of the proposed models,

v_{g s}

characteristics of the upper-side and lower-side were simulated and compared with the experimental results. The trend of changes in the

v_{g s}

pulling-down and oscillation amplitude along with the increasing output power from simulation are consistent with that of the experimental results. In addition, different conditions of gate resistance for the SiC power module are compared. Through the comparison between the experiments and simulations, the validity of the proposed equivalent RLC circuit model and the rationality of the analysis about the mechanisms behind the

v_{g s}

characteristics at turn-on transient for SiC half-bridge power module are confirmed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue SiC based Miniaturized Devices)

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12 pages, 6137 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Silicon Carbide Microstrip Radiation Detectors

by Donatella Puglisi and Giuseppe Bertuccio

Micromachines 2019, 10(12), 835; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi10120835 - 30 Nov 2019

Cited by 42 | Viewed by 4055

Abstract

Compared with the most commonly used silicon and germanium, which need to work at cryogenic or low temperatures to decrease their noise levels, wide-bandgap compound semiconductors such as silicon carbide allow the operation of radiation detectors at room temperature, with high performance, and without the use of any bulky and expensive cooling equipment. In this work, we investigated the electrical and spectroscopic performance of an innovative position-sensitive semiconductor radiation detector in epitaxial 4H-SiC. The full depletion of the epitaxial layer (124 µm, 5.2 × 10¹³ cm⁻³) was reached by biasing the detector up to 600 V. For comparison, two different microstrip detectors were fully characterized from −20 °C to +107 °C. The obtained results show that our prototype detector is suitable for high resolution X-ray spectroscopy with imaging capability in a wide range of operating temperatures. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue SiC based Miniaturized Devices)

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12 pages, 5584 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Investigation of the Young’s Modulus and the Residual Stress of 4H-SiC Circular Membranes on 4H-SiC Substrates

by Jaweb Ben Messaoud, Jean-François Michaud, Dominique Certon, Massimo Camarda, Nicolò Piluso, Laurent Colin, Flavien Barcella and Daniel Alquier

Micromachines 2019, 10(12), 801; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi10120801 - 21 Nov 2019

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3248

Abstract

The stress state is a crucial parameter for the design of innovative microelectromechanical systems based on silicon carbide (SiC) material. Hence, mechanical properties of such structures highly depend on the fabrication process. Despite significant progresses in thin-film growth and fabrication process, monitoring the strain of the suspended SiC thin-films is still challenging. However, 3C-SiC membranes on silicon (Si) substrates have been demonstrated, but due to the low quality of the SiC/Si heteroepitaxy, high levels of residual strains were always observed. In order to achieve promising self-standing films with low residual stress, an alternative micromachining technique based on electrochemical etching of high quality homoepitaxy 4H-SiC layers was evaluated. This work is dedicated to the determination of their mechanical properties and more specifically, to the characterization of a 4H-SiC freestanding film with a circular shape. An inverse problem method was implemented, where experimental results obtained from bulge test are fitted with theoretical static load-deflection curves of the stressed membrane. To assess data validity, the dynamic behavior of the membrane was also investigated: Experimentally, by means of laser Doppler vibrometry (LDV) and theoretically, by means of finite element computations. The two methods provided very similar results since one obtained a Young’s modulus of 410 GPa and a residual stress value of 41 MPa from bulge test against 400 GPa and 30 MPa for the LDV analysis. The determined Young’s modulus is in good agreement with literature values. Moreover, residual stress values demonstrate that the fabrication of low-stressed SiC films is achievable thanks to the micromachining process developed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue SiC based Miniaturized Devices)

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6 pages, 1050 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Improved 4H-SiC MESFET with a Partially Low Doped Channel

by Hujun Jia, Yibo Tong, Tao Li, Shunwei Zhu, Yuan Liang, Xingyu Wang, Tonghui Zeng and Yintang Yang

Micromachines 2019, 10(9), 555; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi10090555 - 23 Aug 2019

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2685

Abstract

An improved 4H-SiC metal semiconductor field effect transistor (MESFET) based on the double-recessed MESFET (DR-MESFET) for high power added efficiency (PAE) is designed and simulated in this paper and its mechanism is explored by co-simulation of ADS and ISE-TCAD software. This structure has a partially low doped channel (PLDC) under the gate, which increases the PAE of the device by decreasing the absolute value of the threshold voltage (V_t), gate-source capacitance (C_gs) and saturation current (I_d). The simulated results show that with the increase of H, the PAE of the device increases and then decreases when the value of N_PLDC is low enough. The doping concentration and thickness of the PLDC are respectively optimized to be N_PLDC = 1 × 10¹⁵ cm⁻³ and H = 0.15 μm to obtain the best PAE. The maximum PAE obtained from the PLDC-MESFET is 43.67%, while the PAE of the DR-MESFET is 23.43%; the optimized PAE is increased by 86.38%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue SiC based Miniaturized Devices)

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14 pages, 3424 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fabrication of a Monolithic Implantable Neural Interface from Cubic Silicon Carbide

by Mohammad Beygi, John T. Bentley, Christopher L. Frewin, Cary A. Kuliasha, Arash Takshi, Evans K. Bernardin, Francesco La Via and Stephen E. Saddow

Micromachines 2019, 10(7), 430; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi10070430 - 29 Jun 2019

Cited by 25 | Viewed by 4121

Abstract

One of the main issues with micron-sized intracortical neural interfaces (INIs) is their long-term reliability, with one major factor stemming from the material failure caused by the heterogeneous integration of multiple materials used to realize the implant. Single crystalline cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC) is a semiconductor material that has been long recognized for its mechanical robustness and chemical inertness. It has the benefit of demonstrated biocompatibility, which makes it a promising candidate for chronically-stable, implantable INIs. Here, we report on the fabrication and initial electrochemical characterization of a nearly monolithic, Michigan-style 3C-SiC microelectrode array (MEA) probe. The probe consists of a single 5 mm-long shank with 16 electrode sites. An ~8 µm-thick p-type 3C-SiC epilayer was grown on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer, which was followed by a ~2 µm-thick epilayer of heavily n-type (n⁺) 3C-SiC in order to form conductive traces and the electrode sites. Diodes formed between the p and n⁺ layers provided substrate isolation between the channels. A thin layer of amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC) was deposited via plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) to insulate the surface of the probe from the external environment. Forming the probes on a SOI wafer supported the ease of probe removal from the handle wafer by simple immersion in HF, thus aiding in the manufacturability of the probes. Free-standing probes and planar single-ended test microelectrodes were fabricated from the same 3C-SiC epiwafers. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were performed on test microelectrodes with an area of 491 µm² in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) solution. The measurements showed an impedance magnitude of 165 kΩ ± 14.7 kΩ (mean ± standard deviation) at 1 kHz, anodic charge storage capacity (CSC) of 15.4 ± 1.46 mC/cm², and a cathodic CSC of 15.2 ± 1.03 mC/cm². Current-voltage tests were conducted to characterize the p-n diode, n-p-n junction isolation, and leakage currents. The turn-on voltage was determined to be on the order of ~1.4 V and the leakage current was less than 8 μA_rms. This all-SiC neural probe realizes nearly monolithic integration of device components to provide a likely neurocompatible INI that should mitigate long-term reliability issues associated with chronic implantation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue SiC based Miniaturized Devices)

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13 pages, 7612 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Modeling and Experiment of the Critical Depth of Cut at the Ductile–Brittle Transition for a 4H-SiC Single Crystal

by Peng Chai, Shujuan Li and Yan Li

Micromachines 2019, 10(6), 382; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi10060382 - 07 Jun 2019

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 4070

Abstract

In this paper, a theoretical model of the critical depth of cut of nanoscratching on a 4H-SiC single crystal with a Berkovich indenter is proposed, and a series of scratch tests in a nanomechanical test system was performed. Through nanoindentation experimentation on fused quartz, the Berkovich indenter nose radius was indirectly confirmed using least squares. The range of critical depths of cut at the ductile–brittle transition was obtained by SEM observation, and the size of cracks was amplified with increasing scratching depth. The theoretical result of the critical depth of cut at the ductile–brittle transition for a 4H-SiC single crystal is 91.7 nm, which is close to the first obvious pop-in point of the relation curve between tangential force and lateral displacement. Repeated experimental results show good consistency and good agreement with other references. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue SiC based Miniaturized Devices)

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18 pages, 5183 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Nanomechanical Analysis of Deformation Characteristics of 6H-SiC Using an Indenter and Abrasives in Different Fixed Methods

by Jisheng Pan, Qiusheng Yan, Weihua Li and Xiaowei Zhang

Micromachines 2019, 10(5), 332; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi10050332 - 18 May 2019

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3935

Abstract

The super-precise theory for machining single crystal SiC substrates with abrasives needs to be improved for its chemical stability, extremely hard and brittle. A Berkovich indenter was used to carry out a systematic static stiffness indentation experiments on single crystal 6H-SiC substrates, and then these substrates were machined by utilizing fixed, free, and semi-fixed abrasives, and the nanomechanical characteristics and material removal mechanisms using abrasives in different fixed methods were analyzed theoretically. The results indicated that the hardness of C faces and Si faces of single crystal 6H-SiC under 500 mN load were 38.596 Gpa and 36.246 Gpa respectively, and their elastic moduli were 563.019 Gpa and 524.839 Gpa, respectively. Moreover, the theoretical critical loads for the plastic transition and brittle fracture of C face of single crystal 6H-SiC were 1.941 mN and 366.8 mN, while those of Si face were 1.77 mN and 488.67 mN, respectively. The 6H-SiC materials were removed by pure brittle rolling under three-body friction with free abrasives, and the process parameters determined the material removal modes of 6H-SiC substrates by grinding with fixed abrasives, nevertheless, the materials were removed under full elastic-plastic deformation in cluster magnetorheological finishing with semi-fixed abrasives. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue SiC based Miniaturized Devices)

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12 pages, 1594 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Influence of AlN Intermediate Layer on the Structural and Chemical Properties of SiC Thin Films Produced by High-Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering

by Nierlly Galvão, Marciel Guerino, Tiago Campos, Korneli Grigorov, Mariana Fraga, Bruno Rodrigues, Rodrigo Pessoa, Julien Camus, Mohammed Djouadi and Homero Maciel

Micromachines 2019, 10(3), 202; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi10030202 - 22 Mar 2019

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3984

Abstract

Many strategies have been developed for the synthesis of silicon carbide (SiC) thin films on silicon (Si) substrates by plasma-based deposition techniques, especially plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) and magnetron sputtering, due to the importance of these materials for microelectronics and related fields. A drawback is the large lattice mismatch between SiC and Si. The insertion of an aluminum nitride (AlN) intermediate layer between them has been shown useful to overcome this problem. Herein, the high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) technique was used to grow SiC thin films on AlN/Si substrates. Furthermore, SiC films were also grown on Si substrates. A comparison of the structural and chemical properties of SiC thin films grown on the two types of substrate allowed us to evaluate the influence of the AlN layer on such properties. The chemical composition and stoichiometry of the samples were investigated by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) and Raman spectroscopy, while the crystallinity was characterized by grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD). Our set of results evidenced the versatility of the HiPIMS technique to produce polycrystalline SiC thin films at near-room temperature by only varying the discharge power. In addition, this study opens up a feasible route for the deposition of crystalline SiC films with good structural quality using an AlN intermediate layer. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue SiC based Miniaturized Devices)

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Review

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26 pages, 3621 KiB

Open AccessReview

Silicon Carbide Converters and MEMS Devices for High-temperature Power Electronics: A Critical Review

by Xiaorui Guo, Qian Xun, Zuxin Li and Shuxin Du

Micromachines 2019, 10(6), 406; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi10060406 - 19 Jun 2019

Cited by 75 | Viewed by 9380

Abstract

The significant advance of power electronics in today’s market is calling for high-performance power conversion systems and MEMS devices that can operate reliably in harsh environments, such as high working temperature. Silicon-carbide (SiC) power electronic devices are featured by the high junction temperature, low power losses, and excellent thermal stability, and thus are attractive to converters and MEMS devices applied in a high-temperature environment. This paper conducts an overview of high-temperature power electronics, with a focus on high-temperature converters and MEMS devices. The critical components, namely SiC power devices and modules, gate drives, and passive components, are introduced and comparatively analyzed regarding composition material, physical structure, and packaging technology. Then, the research and development directions of SiC-based high-temperature converters in the fields of motor drives, rectifier units, DC–DC converters are discussed, as well as MEMS devices. Finally, the existing technical challenges facing high-temperature power electronics are identified, including gate drives, current measurement, parameters matching between each component, and packaging technology. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue SiC based Miniaturized Devices)

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