A Study of V3+/4+ Levels in Semi-insulating 6H-SiC using Optical Admittance and Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectroscopies

Abstract

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to identify the vanadium acceptor levels in semi-insulating (SI) 6H-SiC using optical admittance spectroscopy (OAS) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. OAS conductance peaks near at 0.67 ± 0.02 eV and 0.70 ± 0.02 eV are identified as V3+/4+ levels at the quasi-cubic sites. An OAS peak at 0.87 eV is assigned to the same transition at the hexagonal site. EPR measurements before illumination revealed the characteristic spectrum of V3+. The presence of the V3+ signal supports the identification of the OAS peaks as transitions from the V3+/4+ level to the conduction band. Photo-induced EPR measurements reveal a change in the intensity of V3+ and V4+ at 0.8 ± 0.1 eV, where the amplitude of the V3+ charge state decreases and that of V4+ increases by approximately equal amounts. Although the individual sites are not resolved in the photo-induced EPR data, the 0.8 eV feature strongly supports the assignment of the three OAS peaks as acceptor levels.