Observation of metastable defect in electron irradiated 6H-SiC

A metastable defect with three different configurations has been observed in electron irradiated 6H-SiC p(+)-n junctions. Various capacitance transient methods, isochronal annealing and simulation have been used to characterise the transformation processes between the configurations. The thermal ionisation energies were measured for the different configurations. In addition to the metastable defect, two not previously reported electron traps were observed. Electron capture rate was measured for one of the configurations. An electron capturing and configuration transformation model is suggested and a transition probability between two of the configurations has been defined and measured.