HOLE CAPTURE BY D-CENTER DEFECTS IN GH-SILICON CARBIDE

Room-temperature yellow luminescence is a distinctive signature of boron-related deep-level defects in 6H-SiC. This yellow luminescence is associated with the boron-related D center, rather than the more shallow boron acceptor. However, the reported activation energy for photoluminescence (0.7-0.73 eV) is in disagreement with the D center's reported thermal activation energy (0.58-0.63 eV) as determined by deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS). We show that this discrepancy can be eliminated by correcting the DLTS results for the temperature dependence of hole capture at the D center. By use of independent capture and emission measurements, and a two-stage deep-level capture model, the D center's ground state is resolved to be Ev+0.74 eV±0.02 eV, in good agreement with photoluminescence data. © 1995 American Institute of Physics.