If an engineering breakthrough can be carried forward into the commercial domain, a new generation of silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductors could help make jets and cars cleaner and more powerful, provide clear radio and telephone communications and send spacecraft on missions previously deemed suicidal.

That is the dream of a team of Japanese scientists, who believe their new way of making SiC crystals could make larger and more reliable wafers of this material, rendering them cheaper and more useful than ever before.

Conventional computer chips comprise a thin slice of silicon, which is made by cooling pure, molten silicon in such a way that, as the fiery drop solidifies, a crystal "grows" in a certain direction.

Ground into a wafer and then cunningly doped with chemicals to tease out conductive circuitry, the silicon can then etched to house millions of electronic components.

The problem, though, is that silicon devices are very sensitive to heat.

They can malfunction in high temperatures -- even from heat generated by their own circuitry, a factor that requires fans or other gadgets to cool them down and limits their future miniaturisation.

Silicon carbide has interested scientists since the early years of semiconductors in the 1950. It is extremely hard -- it is used as grit in sandpaper -- and highly resistant to heat.

But: SiC crystals have been hard to manufacture in large crystals that are of high quality. They are prone to a flaw called micropipes -- microscopic tubes that damage or weaken the circuitry and make the chip vulnerable to failure.

That hitch has now been overcome thanks to a new way of growing SiC crystals, according to research published on Thursday in the British weekly scientific journal Nature.

A team led by Kazumasa Takatori of Toyota Central R&D Labs Inc. of Japan found a solution by growing the crystals in several different stages. At each stage, the crystal is carefully rotated so that the solidifying compound crystallises on the best, least-blemished face.

By patiently building up the crystal layer by layer, ingots of SiC -- the little bricks from which wafers are sliced -- are "virtually dislocation-free," they say.

"These results are spectacular," commented French materials physicist Roland Madar in an assessment of their work.

"The (layering) process is a major innovation in materials science. Silicon carbide has become, at last, a contender for silicon's crown."

Among the potential outlets for SiC semiconductors are extreme environments where they are required to operate at high power or withstand high temperatures.

These include microwave communications, radar and high-definition TV transmitters, and also jet and car engines where sophisticated sensors are in demand to monitor performance and curb excess fuel consumption and pollution as much as possible.

Previous research has already shown that even at red-hot temperatures as high as 650 C (1,202 F), SiC devices can function unperturbed and without the need for cooling.

Another exciting area is in space exploration, enabling the creation of robot spacecraft that would carry a bigger payload and go on more ambitious missions than today.

SiC components could withstand the scorching heat of Venus or operations near the Sun. As for deep-space missions, where nuclear power will be needed for the craft, radiation-hardened SiC devices would reduce the shielding needed to protect reactor control electronics, thus making huge savings in weight.

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