Kyoto University Builds 600°C Silicon Carbide Transistor Using Standard Fabs

Kyoto University builds a silicon carbide transistor operating at 600°C using standard mass production lines. The bottom-gate layout shrinks the threshold voltage gap to under 0.1V at 400°C, down from previous 2V margins. A double-well structure isolates devices within a pn junction, keeping leakage current near the theoretical floor as the substrate heats up. The researchers achieved this using standard ion implantation, bypassing the bespoke epitaxial fabrication processes NASA previously relied on for extreme-temperature logic. Because the current transistor is normally-on, it constantly draws standby power and still requires a normally-off counterpart to build efficient logic circuits. Proving it works on standard fab equipment is the real breakthrough, but until they engineer normally-off complementary pairs, it's just a highly durable academic exercise.