Nitrogen ion implantation and thermal annealing in 6H-SiC single crystal

The interrelationships among implantation-induced defect density, carrier activation rate, substrate temperature during nitrogen implantation and annealing in 6H-SiC have been clarified. Several defects, whose energy required for recovery of lattice damage depends on the substrate temperature during implantation, were examined. Although defect density was sufficiently low that it was undetectable by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, the carrier activation rate was 3.3% under the condition that the implanted nitrogen density was 1.8 x 10(19) cm(-3). According to the first principles local-density functional calculation using the cubic SiC crystal model, the complex defect composed of interstitial carbon and substituted nitrogen, which produces a localized electronic state and a half-occupied level in the band gap, is considered to be one cause of the low carrier activation rate in nitrogen-implanted SiC.