High-Pressure, High-Temperature Behavior of Silicon Carbide: A Review

Abstract

Abstract:The high-pressure behavior of silicon carbide (SiC), a hard, semi-conducting material commonly known for its many polytypic structures and refractory nature, has increasingly become the subject of current research. Through work done both experimentally and computationally, many interesting aspects of high-pressure SiC have been measured and explored. Considerable work has been done to measure the effect of pressure on the vibrational and material properties of SiC. Additionally, the transition from the low-pressure zinc-blende B3 structure to the high-pressure rocksalt B1 structure has been measured by several groups in both the diamond-anvil cell and shock communities and predicted in numerous computational studies. Finally, high-temperature studies have explored the thermal equation of state and thermal expansion of SiC, as well as the high-pressure and high-temperature melting behavior. From high-pressure phase transitions, phonon behavior, and melting characteristics, our increased knowledge of SiC is improving our understanding of its industrial uses, as well as opening up its application to other fields such as the Earth sciences.

High‐Pressure Effect on Elastic Constants and Their Related Properties of MgCa Intermetallic Compound

“…The investigation of semiconducting materials under high pressure and temperature has continued for several decades now using powerful experimental techniques and more reliable computational methods . Through work done in both experimental and computational sides, several interesting aspects of high‐pressure behavior of semiconductor materials have been measured and/or computed and explored.…”

SiO2‐SiC Mixtures at High Pressures and Temperatures: Implications for Planetary Bodies Containing SiC

“…This was interpreted as being a result of Si being in the liquid phase and solidifying to an amorphous structure upon rapid laser quench, possibly due to the presence of C impurities (Daviau & Lee, ; Deb et al, ; Haberl et al, ). Kinetics has previously been seen to play a large role in reactions involving SiC, however, including decomposition (Daviau & Lee, ). Our new results may allow some insight into the process of SiC decomposition which explains both the lack of Si diffraction in DAC experiments on high P‐T SiC as well as the observed offsets in SiC and SiO 2 quench volumes observed here.…”

“…If the high‐pressure rock salt phase also decomposes, then it is possible that SiC may decompose at all mantle pressures. As decomposition has not been observed in the rock salt phase of SiC, however, it is possible that rock salt SiC does not decompose and either remains solid or melts congruently (Daviau & Lee, , ).…”

“…Such planets may be difficult to distinguish from their average density alone due to the high‐pressure phase transition in SiC (Daviau & Lee, ). Recent literature has explored the Si‐C system under planetary conditions with the goal of better characterizing exotic C‐rich worlds (Daviau & Lee, ; Kidokoro et al, ; Miozzi et al, ; Nisr et al, ; Wilson & Militzer, ).…”

Raman Characterization of Carrier Concentrations of Al-implanted 4H-SiC with Low Carrier Concentration by Photo-Generated Carrier Effect

“…The third-generation semiconductor materials have superior physical and chemical properties, such as large forbidden band width (larger than 2.3 eV), high thermal conductivity, high carrier mobility and high breakdown voltage [1]. They can be widely used for devices operating under extreme conditions, such as high temperature, high voltage and high power [2]. The third-generation semiconductor materials primarily include silicon carbide, gallium nitride and diamond, etc.…”