SiC-on-silicon edges closer to LEDs

More than a decade ago, researchers from Australia-based Queensland Micro and Nanotechnology Facility (QMF) of Griffith University were depositing silicon carbide on silicon as part of a venture capital funded programme to develop novel non-volatile memory cells. Come the global financial crisis, funding waned and the project was shelved. The process, however, was not. In 2011, the QMF researchers joined forces with micro-device equipment manufacturer, SPTS Technologies, to develop a production reactor targeted at producing SiC-coated silicon wafers for GaN for LEDs. As Alan Iacopi, QMF director of operations, explains: “Silicon carbide makes a great buffer layer for GaN, but we knew that if the industry was going to take us seriously, we needed a production vehicle to commercialize the technology.”