Despite high-temperature operations the wide band gap also allows the use of SiC in optoelectronic devices.
Indeed, a forgotten figure, Oleg V. Losev discovered what we know as the light emitting diode (LED) today in the mid 1920s by observing light emission from SiC crystal rectifier diodes used in radio receivers when a current was passed through them~\cite{losev27}.
Apparently not known to Losev, Henry J. Round published a small note~\cite{round07} reporting a bright glow from a SiC diode already in 1907.
However, it was Losev who continued his studies providing comprehensive knowledge on light emission of SiC (entitled luminous carborundum) and its relation to diode action~\cite{losev28,losev29,losev31,losev33} constituting the birth of solid-state optoelectronics.
And indeed, the first significant blue LEDs reinvented at the start of the 1990s were based on SiC.
Due to the indirect band gap and, thus, low light emitting efficiency, however, it is nowadays replaced by GaN and InGaN based diodes.
Despite high-temperature operations the wide band gap also allows the use of SiC in optoelectronic devices.
Indeed, a forgotten figure, Oleg V. Losev discovered what we know as the light emitting diode (LED) today in the mid 1920s by observing light emission from SiC crystal rectifier diodes used in radio receivers when a current was passed through them~\cite{losev27}.
Apparently not known to Losev, Henry J. Round published a small note~\cite{round07} reporting a bright glow from a SiC diode already in 1907.
However, it was Losev who continued his studies providing comprehensive knowledge on light emission of SiC (entitled luminous carborundum) and its relation to diode action~\cite{losev28,losev29,losev31,losev33} constituting the birth of solid-state optoelectronics.
And indeed, the first significant blue LEDs reinvented at the start of the 1990s were based on SiC.
Due to the indirect band gap and, thus, low light emitting efficiency, however, it is nowadays replaced by GaN and InGaN based diodes.