SiC Based Miniaturized Devices, 4th Edition

Dear Colleagues,

Silicon carbide (SiC) is a well-known wide-bandgap semiconductor currently experiencing exponential growth in commercial adoption, particularly within the power electronics sector. In recent years, numerous compelling applications for SiC have emerged across diverse fields, including MEMS, optical devices, radiation detectors, biomedical sensors, quantum devices, high-temperature electronics, photovoltaics, and water splitting. These advancements are driven by the material’s outstanding mechanical properties, optical transparency, radiation hardness, and biocompatibility.

SiC for Detector Applications. SiC offers several advantages over silicon for detector applications. Its wider bandgap results in significantly lower junction leakage current, leading to a superior signal-to-noise ratio along with an intrinsic blindness to visible light. Furthermore, radiation-induced defects cause a much smaller increase in leakage current compared to semiconductors with narrower bandgaps. From a radiation-hardness perspective, SiC is an extremely hard and durable material, which is a critical property as it considerably reduces the density of defects generated by high-energy particles.

Advancements in MEMS and NEMS. MEMS are ubiquitous in modern electronics, from automotive airbag sensors to smartphones and embedded systems. The continuous drive toward miniaturization has led to the development of nanometer-scale devices (NEMS). While silicon-based MEMS/NEMS benefit from highly precise manufacturing, silicon’s mechanical fatigue and thermal limitations pose challenges for extreme environments. Although SiC MEMS have been researched for decades, this Special Issue aims to provide a comprehensive overview of tested devices while highlighting emerging technologies and breakthroughs in SiC processing.

Photonics and Quantum Integration. SiC is also emerging as a favorable material platform for Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) and Quantum Photonic Integrated Circuits (QPICs). Unlike other platforms such as III-V semiconductors or diamond, SiC photonics leverages the mature crystal growth and processing infrastructure established by the power electronics industry. Its high refractive index enables tight light confinement and strong light–matter interaction, while its significant nonlinear refractive index facilitates efficient wavelength conversion via four-wave mixing.

Scope of the Special Issue This Special Issue seeks to showcase original research papers, short communications, and review articles focusing on:

1. Novel design, fabrication, control, and modelling of SiC MEMS/NEMS (utilizing various actuation mechanisms), SiC detectors, PICs, and quantum devices.
2. New developments and applications of SiC-based technologies in consumer electronics, optical communications, industry, medicine, agriculture, space, and defense.

Prof. Dr. Stephen Edward Saddow
Prof. Francesco La Via
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the Special Issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Micromachines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.