Anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases are one of the possible reasons for the global warming. Coal consumption is predicted to be increased over several decades due to increasing demands in some countries. In the medium-term energy strategy, coal-fired power plants thus need to be developed. For this purpose, developments of new heat-resistant alloys that can stand severe steam conditions in advanced power plants are essential. A potential alloy was studied, which revealed that hardness of the alloy is related to the distribution of precipitates. The development of the alloy is also vital to make the power plants more economically competitive.
Metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitors with various gate dielectrics were fabricated on (111) oriented n-type 3C-SiC. Deposited SiO2 by sputtering without an interlayer (IL) and thermally grown SiO2 show deteriorated capacitance–voltage (C–V) characteristics and high interface trap density (Dit) over 1011–1012 cm−2 eV−1. By inserting an IL, C–V and leakage current characteristics are improved. In particular, an atomic layer deposited (ALD) Al2O3-IL is suitable for 3C-SiC, which successfully achieved low Dit in the order of 1010 cm−2 eV−1. MOS capacitor with the same gate dielectric on n-Si shows contradictory characteristics. Structural analysis shows it is considered the flat and uniform interface at Al2O3/3C-SiC leads good electrical characteristics. The 3C-SiC MOS capacitor with Al2O3-IL showed slightly negative flatband voltage and it is induced by negative interfacial dipole generated at the Al2O3/3C-SiC interface. This 3C-SiC MOS structure can be fabricated at low process temperature (<600 °C), which means the overall process for device application can be designed more flexibly.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.