This year Power Electronics Technology has selected a significant product development that is not quite in commercial production yet, but it is scheduled to be introduced in mid-2009. This product is Cree’s SiC (silicon carbide) MOSFET, which is an R&D breakthrough product being sampled by specific system manufacturers.
Several manufacturers have made SiC diodes, but Cree is the first to come up with a viable MOSFET. The ability to make these parts rests on the gate structure, which requires a physics and chemistry solution. The company still has some "tweaking" to do with the process, but they appear to be well ahead of the other companies that have ventured into this technology.