Editing JFET (section)

== History ==
A succession of FET-like devices was patented by [[Julius Edgar Lilienfeld|Julius Lilienfeld]] in the 1920s and 1930s. However, [[materials science]] and fabrication technology would require decades of advances before FETs could actually be manufactured.

JFET was first patented by [[Heinrich Welker]] in 1945.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Physics of Semiconductors|author=Grundmann, Marius|isbn=978-3-642-13884-3 |publisher=Springer-Verlag|year=2010}}</ref> During the 1940s, researchers [[John Bardeen]], [[Walter Houser Brattain]], and [[William Shockley]] were trying to build a FET, but failed in their repeated attempts. They discovered the [[point-contact transistor]] in the course of trying to diagnose the reasons for their failures. Following Shockley's theoretical treatment on JFET in 1952, a working practical JFET was made in 1953 by [[George C. Dacey]] and [[Ian Munro Ross|Ian M. Ross]].<ref name="sit"/> Japanese engineers [[Jun-ichi Nishizawa]] and Y. Watanabe applied for a patent for a similar device in 1950 termed [[static induction transistor]] (SIT). The SIT is a type of JFET with a short channel.<ref name="sit">[https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-1-4684-7263-9_11#page-1 Junction Field-Effect Devices], ''Semiconductor Devices for Power Conditioning'', 1982.</ref>

High-speed, high-voltage switching with JFETs became technically feasible following the commercial introduction of [[Silicon carbide#Power electronic devices|Silicon carbide]] (SiC) [[Wide-bandgap semiconductor|wide-bandgap]] devices in 2008. Due to early difficulties in manufacturing &mdash; in particular, inconsistencies and low yield &mdash; SiC JFETs remained a niche product at first, with correspondingly high costs. By 2018, these manufacturing issues had been mostly resolved. By then, SiC JFETs were also commonly used in conjunction with conventional low-voltage Silicon MOSFETs.<ref name="Flaherty2018">{{citation|last=Flaherty|first=Nick|date=October 18, 2018|title=Third generation SiC JFET adds 1200 V and 650 V options|periodical=EeNews Power Management|url=https://www.eenewspower.com/news/third-generation-sic-jfet-adds-1200-v-and-650-v-options}}.</ref> In this combination, SiC JFET + Si MOSFET devices have the advantages of wide band-gap devices as well as the easy gate drive of MOSFETs.<ref name="Flaherty2018" />