abstract
The list of semiconductor materials with spectroscopically fingerprinted self-interstitials is very short. The M center in 4H-SiC, a bistable defect responsible for a family of electron traps, has been deprived of a model which could unveil its real importance for almost two decades. Using advanced first-principles calculations and junction spectroscopy, we demonstrate that the properties of M, including bistability, annealing, reconfiguration kinetics, and electronic levels match those of the carbon self-interstitial.
keywords
TOTAL-ENERGY CALCULATIONS; DEFECT SPIN QUBITS; INTRINSIC DEFECTS; SILICON; IDENTIFICATION
subject category
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary; Physics, Applied; Physics, Condensed Matter
authors
Coutinho, J; Gouveia, JD; Makino, T; Ohshima, T; Pastuovic, Z; Bakrac, L; Brodar, T; Capan, I
our authors
José Daniel Lago da Silva Neves Gouveia
Assistant Researcheracknowledgements
This work was supported by the NATO SPS Programme through Project G5674. J.C. thanks the FCT in Portugal for support through Projects UIDB/50025/2020, UIDP/50025/2020, and CPCA/A0/7277/2020 (Advanced Computing Project using the Oblivion supercomputer). J.D.G. acknowledges the support of I3N through Grant BPD-11(5017/2018). T.O. thanks Dr. Hidekazu Tsuchida and Dr. Norihiro Hoshino at CRIEPI for growing the 4H-SiC epitaxial layers. Z.P. acknowledges the financial support of the Australian Government to the CAS of ANSTO through the NCRIS.