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Published on: October 23, 2018
Solution Processed Schottky Diodes Enabled by Silicon Carbide Nanowires for Harsh Environment Applications
Kuan-Yu Chen1, Prabhat K Tripathy2, Kunal Mondal3
1University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 1415 Engineering Dr., Madison, Wisconsin 53706, United States.
Silicon carbide nanowires (SiC NWs) offer a path to robust, solution-processable electronics. These SiC NW Schottky diodes demonstrate excellent high-temperature tolerance and irradiation resistance for harsh environments.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Nanotechnology
- Semiconductor Devices
Background:
- Silicon carbide nanowires (SiC NWs) offer a unique combination of bulk material resilience and solution processability.
- Developing electronics for harsh environments requires materials with exceptional thermal and radiation tolerance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To fabricate and characterize SiC NW Schottky diodes.
- To evaluate the performance of SiC NW Schottky diodes under elevated temperatures and proton irradiation.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of single SiC NW Schottky diodes with an approximate diameter of 160 nm.
- Analysis of current-voltage characteristics at high temperatures (873 K) and after proton irradiation (10^16 ion/cm^2).
Main Results:
- SiC NW Schottky diodes maintained stable performance metrics (ideality factor, barrier height, effective Richardson constant) under harsh conditions.
- The devices exhibited high-temperature tolerance and significant irradiation resistance.
Conclusions:
- SiC NWs are highly suitable for developing robust, solution-processable electronic devices for extreme environments.
- The demonstrated resilience supports the use of SiC NWs in applications requiring long-term stability under thermal and radiation stress.
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