1.1 History of SiC

SiC is not known as a terrestrial mineral as it is only found in meteors. But it is synthesized from quartz sand and graphite in an industrial scale (Acheson furnaces [3]) since back in 1893 for use as abrasive material. Discovery and identification of a SiC LED occurred in 1907 when Round published a short article entitled "A Note on Carborundum" [4]. Bulk crystalline SiC is prepared using the Lely method patented in 1955 [5,6]. Here synthesized SiC powder is evaporated at 2500$~^{\circ}$C in a graphite crucible under highest-purity conditions. It sublimes then on a porous graphite wall inside the crucible forming hexagonal platelets. This method was extended later as seeded sublimation technique by Tairov and Tsvetkov in the late 1970s [7]. The latter method, more generally termed PVT (physical vapor transport), was further refined in [8] for producing large-diameter SiC boules, and various modifications of these techniques are now used at many laboratories worldwide. Bulk single crystals of SiC with 100 mm in diameter are prepared today [9].

T. Ayalew: SiC Semiconductor Devices Technology, Modeling, and Simulation