Silicon carbide (SiC) has emerged as a highly attractive material for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) operating in harsh environments, owing to its outstanding mechanical, thermal, and chemical properties. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the advantages and limitations of SiC-based MEMS, with particular emphasis on the strong interdependence between material structure, mechanical properties, and epitaxial growth processes. The role of defects, residual stress, and crystal quality is discussed in relation to device performance and reliability. Special attention is devoted to cubic SiC grown on silicon substrates, highlighting how growth-induced features influence the mechanical response of micromachined structures. Furthermore, a detailed analysis of the quality factor (Q-factor) is presented for 3C-SiC (111)/Si resonators, including the development of analytical models and their validation through numerical simulations performed using COMSOL Multiphysics (Version 6.1). The necessity of incorporating anisotropic loss factors in numerical modeling is demonstrated to be essential for accurately describing the experimentally observed behavior. This review aims to provide design guidelines and modeling strategies for the optimization of SiC MEMS, supporting their further development for high-performance and extreme-environment applications, including pressure sensors, mechanical resonators and high-stress-tolerant sensors.

A new generation of microfabricated MEMS for electron optics is changing electron microscopy for the better. These devices allow operations on the electron beam that are impossible with conventional electron optics. Unprecedented phase landscapes like tunable spiral phase plates and localized strong phase gradients are just some examples of what can be achieved. This work establishes the methodological foundation to design and control MEMS based phase plates. The design strategy is rooted on a novel analytical and numerical modeling of thin electrodes with accurate account of the fringing fields having a major role in the thin-MEMS geometry. We designed, fabricated and characterized experimentally a spiral phase plate, and assessed the quality of the generated vortex beam while discussing the most relevant control parameters and design approaches.

We report about resonant strain sensors manufactured with a new fabrication technology based on composite polycrystalline silicon/3C-SiC double clamped beam resonators. The resonators are designed in such a way that the overall residual stress of the beam is decreased compared to the case of an all-SiC resonator. This increases the strain sensitivity of the beams and decreases their resonance frequency. Different design geometries of these resonators are investigated, yielding a maximum strain sensitivity of more than 1 kHz/mu epsilon, which is more than three times larger than the present state of the art of resonant MEMS strain sensors.

Silicon carbide (SiC) is an interesting semiconductor for MEMS devices. The high-value Young’s modulus of silicon carbide facilitates high frequencies and quality (Q) factors in resonant devices built with double-clamped beams. The aim of this work is to achieve the determination and modeling of the Q-Factor for samples of micromachined 3C-SiC film on <111> silicon substrates. This study demonstrates that the experimental datasets created by Romero, integrated with the thicker samples reported in this work, fit the theoretical model presented in the paper. Furthermore, the influence of the crystallographic defects present at the 3C-SiC/Si interface on the Q-factor can be observed both in the analytical model of Romero and in the numerical model present in COMSOL. 3C-SiC layers with thickness greater than 600 nm are needed to achieve an ideal performance from double-clamped beams.

In the simulation of 3C-SiC strain gauges in dynamic environment—particularly those involving vibrations and wave propagation—the accurate representation of energy dissipation is essential for reliable predictive modeling. This paper discusses the implementation of both isotropic and anisotropic damping models within COMSOL Multiphysics. In particular, it focuses on the use of an anisotropic loss factor, represented either as a scalar (ηS) for isotropic cases or as a symmetric 6 × 6 loss factor matrix (ηD) for anisotropic dissipation. This formulation enables the directional dependence of damping behavior to be captured, which is particularly important in composite materials, layered media, and metamaterials where energy dissipation mechanisms vary with orientation. The paper also explores the numerical implications of using anisotropic damping, such as its influence on eigenfrequency solutions, frequency response functions, and transient dynamic simulations. Furthermore, it highlights how the inclusion of directional damping can improve the correlation between simulated and experimental results in scenarios where standard isotropic models fail to capture key physical behaviors.

In this paper the stress field distribution in 3C-SiC (111) resonators has been studied by micro-Raman measurements and COMSOL simulations. The measurements show that the asymmetry of the anchor points configuration produce an asymmetry in the stress filed distribution. This behavior has been confirmed also by the simulations. Furthermore, from the simulations the importance of the reduction of the under etching of the anchor points of the resonators has also been observed. In fact the reduction of this under etch produces a decrease of the stress in the double clamped beams, a small reduction of the resonance frequency, and a large reduction of the Q-factor and then of the oscillation frequency stability of the resonators in closed-loop operation.

In this work, the fabrication of wafer-level vacuum packaged 3C-SiC resonators obtained from layers grown on <100> and <111> silicon is reported. The resonant microstructures are double-clamped beams encapsulated by glass-silicon anodic bonding using titanium-based vacuum gettering. Open-loop resonance frequency measurements are performed on the vacuum-packaged devices showing Q-factor values up to 292,000 for <100> and 331,000 for <111> substrates, with a maximum vacuum level around 10 -2 mbar inside the encapsulations with Ti getter.

The study focuses on analysing the high-level carrier lifetime (τ HL ) in 4H silicon carbide (4H-SiC) PiN diodes under varying temperatures and proton implantation doses. The objective is to identify an empirical law applicable in technology computer-aided design (TCAD) modelling for SiC devices, describing the dependence of carrier lifetime on temperature to gain insights into how irradiation dose may influence the τ HL . We electrically characterize diodes of different diameters subjected to different proton irradiation doses and examine the variations in current-voltage (I-V) and ideality factor (n) curves under various irradiation conditions. The effects of proton irradiation on the epitaxial layer are analysed through capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements. We correlate the observed effects on I-V, n, and C-V curves to the hypothesis of formation of acceptor-type defects related to carbon vacancies, specifically the Z 1/2 defects generated during the irradiation process. The impact of irradiation on carrier lifetime is investigated by measuring τ HL using the open circuit voltage decay (OCVD) technique at different temperatures on diodes exposed to various H + irradiation doses with constant ion energy. This investigation reveals the presence of a proportional relationship between 1/τ HL and the dose of irradiated protons: the proportionality coefficient, referred to as the damage coefficient (K T ), exhibits an Arrhenius-type dependence on temperature. OCVD-measured lifetime on the various diodes demonstrates a power-law dependence of lifetime on temperature. The exponent of this dependence varies with the irradiation dose, notably showing an increase in temperature dependence at the highest H + ion dose. This suggests a threshold-like dependence on H+ irradiation dose in the τ HL -temperature relationship.

In this work, the fabrication of wafer-level vacuum-packaged 3C-SiC on Si double- clamped beam resonators via glass–silicon anodic bonding using Ti-based vacuum gettering is reported. Open-loop resonance measurements are performed on the vacuum-packaged devices, showing Q-factor values up to 290,000, a process yield above 80%, and a maximum vacuum level around 10−2 mbar inside the Ti-gettered encapsulations.

In this work, we investigate the correlation between tensile residual stress and Q-factor of double-clamped beams fabricated on epitaxial 3C-SiC layers grown on both <100> and <111> silicon substrates, using a completely optical measurement setup to measure the Q-factor of the resonators and the residual stress of the layers by means of purposely designed micromachined test structures. From the measurements, a clear correlation appears between the residual stress of the SiC layer and the Q-factor of the resonators, with Q-factor values above half a million for resonators fabricated on <111> substrates, showing residual stress around 1 GPa.

In this work, we investigate, by μ-Raman spectroscopy the distribution of stress field on a micro-machined structures. They were realized on a 3C-SiC substrate, grown on a Silicon On Insulator (SOI) wafer, after lithography and etching processes. Various structures, such as strain gauge, single and double clamped beams, were analyzed, showing different stress distributions. All the structures show an intense variation of stress close to the undercut region.

The open-circuit voltage decay (OCVD) method is a well-known technique for conducting electrical measurements of carrier lifetime: the main advantages lie in the simple setup and the possibility of carrying out measurements in commercial devices without the need of removing the package, as for optical methods. Despite several researchers having reported carrier lifetimes measured by the OCVD method in different devices, there has been little discussion about the potential effect of the experimental setup on the obtained results. By comparing the outputs of the experimental measurements with those of numerical simulations, this study investigates the overlooked effect of the OCVD measurement setup on the former. Due to the growing importance of SiC-based devices, the analysis is applied to a 4H-SiC p-i-n diode. Two main points are addressed: 1) the effect of circuit setup on the ambipolar lifetime is discussed and a method, originally developed for improving the estimate of low-level carrier lifetime in OCVD measurements, is used to correct the measured lifetime for this influence; 2) the origin of the local minimum eventually appearing in the lifetime versus time curves is also investigated. It is found that the minimum can also be related to the time constant of the experimental setup, giving rise to doubts about the usual interpretation of this minimum as the minority carrier lifetime. A method is thus proposed to help discriminate between the two interpretations.

3C-SiC is an emerging material for MEMS systems thanks to its outstanding mechanical properties (high Young's modulus and low density) that allow the device to be operated for a given geometry at higher frequency. The mechanical properties of this material depend strongly on the material quality, the defect density, and the stress. For this reason, the use of SiC in Si-based microelectromechanical system (MEMS) fabrication techniques has been very limited. In this work, the complete characterization of Young's modulus and residual stress of monocrystalline 3C-SiC layers with different doping types grown on <100> and <111> oriented silicon substrates is reported, using a combination of resonance frequency of double clamped beams and strain gauge. In this way, both the residual stress and the residual strain can be measured independently, and Young's modulus can be obtained by Hooke's law. From these measurements, it has been observed that Young's modulus depends on the thickness of the layer, the orientation, the doping, and the stress. Very good values of Young's modulus were obtained in this work, even for very thin layers (thinner than 1 μm), and this can give the opportunity to realize very sensitive strain sensors.

The reverse recovery (RR) behavior of SiC MOSFET body diode is of great importance in power application, where these devices are used in a wide range of operating temperatures. The carrier lifetime in the drift region varies with temperature, and it heavily affects the tailoring of the RR current, opening reliability issues related to the RR voltage amplitude and to possible anomalous voltage oscillations during the recovery. From the users' point of view, it would be useful to have a simple technique able to give predictive information about the body diode RR behavior of commercial devices over the whole range of working temperatures. An experimental-simulation approach is presented in this paper to correlate the carrier lifetime measured by simple OCVD measurements versus temperature with the RR behavior of the body diode, that can be useful at the design stage of power converters. Simulations of the body diode reverse-recovery are performed for a wide range of carrier lifetimes. This allows to estimate the effect of changes of carrier lifetime with temperature on the body diode switching transients. Preliminary results obtained with a 1700 V/5A commercial MOSFET are shown.

In this work we propose a new sensor concept to evaluate the degradation of PV arrays due to soiling. It is based on I-V curve analysis coupled with artificial vision inspection of a reference PV module to quantify and identify the type of dirt. In order to assess the usefulness of this approach in the automatic scheduling of maintenance interventions in smart-grid PV modules, we developed a Simulink model of a DC nanogrid to test different control strategies. Early experimental results are also shown demonstrating the feasibility of the approach.

The activation energy for the electrical activation of 1x1019 cm-3 and of 1x1020 cm-3 ion implanted Al in 4H-SiC has been estimated. Ion implantation temperature and dose rate were in the range 430-500°C and around 1011 cm2s-1, respectively. Post implantation annealing temperatures varied between 1500 °C and 1950 °C. The annealing time per each annealing temperature was sufficiently long that the sheet resistance of the implanted layer could be equal to the stationary value at the applied annealing temperature. The Arrhenius plots of the room temperature sheet resistances with respect to the post implantation annealing temperatures featured an exponential trend for both the implanted Al concentrations. The activation energies of these plots are the activation energy for placing an implanted Al atom in a substitutional site, i.e. the electrical activation energy. Activation energies around 1 eV, equal within errors for the two implanted Al concentrations, were found.