Structured Materials Awarded Program to Develop Next Generation Silicon Carbide MOSFETS

Structured Materials Industries, Inc. (SMI) has been awarded a program to develop a high performance, next generation SiC MOSFET based on SMI’s Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) of high dielectric constant (high-k) gate dielectrics. The benefits of this approach are multifold: 1) the use of ALD deposited high-k gate oxides reduces the thermal budget by eliminating the need for a high temperature thermal oxide growth step, resulting in a cheaper device, 2) high-k gate dielectrics will reduce the leakage current through the gate oxide, resulting in improved device performance and 3) a superior gate oxide deposition process, such as ALD, will lead to a higher quality SiC/high-k interface, resulting in improved gate oxide reliability, and consequently, improved electron mobilities and a more stable threshold voltage.