The first devices available were Schottky diodes, followed by junction-gate FETs and MOSFETs for high-power switching. Bipolar transistors and thyristors are currently developed. A major problem for SiC commercialization has been the elimination of defects: edge dislocations, screw dislocations (both hollow and closed core), triangular defects and basal plane dislocations. As a result, devices made of SiC crystals initially displayed poor reverse blocking performance, though researchers have been tentatively finding solutions to improve the breakdown performance. Apart from crystal quality, problems with the interface of SiC with silicon dioxide have hampered the development of SiC-based power MOSFETs and insulated-gate bipolar transistors. Although the mechanism is still unclear, nitriding has dramatically reduced the defects causing the interface problems. In 2008, the first commercial JFETs rated at 1200 V were introduced to the market, followed in 2011 by the first commercial MOSFETs rated at 1200 V. Beside SiC switches and SiC Schottky diodes (also Schottky barrier diode, SBD) in the popular TO-247 and TO-220 packages, companies started even earlier to implement the bare chips into their power electronic modules. SiC SBD diodes found wide market spread being used in PFC circuits and IGBT power modules. Conferences such as the International Conference on Integrated Power Electronics Systems (CIPS) report regularly about the technological progress of SiC power devices. Major challenges for fully unleashing the capabilities of SiC power devices are:  The phenomenon of electroluminescence was discovered in 1907 using silicon carbide and the first commercial LEDs were based on SiC. Yellow LEDs made from 3C-SiC were manufactured in the Soviet Union in the 1970s and blue LEDs (6H-SiC) worldwide in the 1980s. LED production soon stopped when a different material, gallium nitride, showed 10–100 times brighter emission. This difference in efficiency is due to the unfavorable indirect bandgap of SiC, whereas GaN has a direct bandgap which favors light emission. However, SiC is still one of the important LED components – it is a popular substrate for growing GaN devices, and it also serves as a heat spreader in high-power LEDs. The low thermal expansion coefficient, high hardness, rigidity and thermal conductivity make silicon carbide a desirable mirror material for astronomical telescopes.