Formation of carbon interstitial-related defect levels by thermal injection of carbon into $n$-type 4$H$-SiC

TL;DR

This study investigates the formation of carbon interstitial-related defect levels in 4H-SiC by thermal injection of carbon, revealing new defect levels distinct from known centers, and providing insights into defect formation mechanisms.

Contribution

It introduces a method of carbon injection via thermal annealing with a pyrolyzed carbon cap to study C$_{i}$-related defects in 4H-SiC, identifying new defect levels.

Findings

Several new C$_{i}$-related defect levels were observed.

These levels differ from the M center, indicating different structures.

The study offers insights into V$_{C}$ annihilation during carbon injection.

Abstract

Electrical properties of point defects in 4$H$-SiC have been studied extensively, but those related to carbon interstitials (C$_{i}$) have remained surprisingly elusive until now. Indeed, when introduced via ion irradiation or implantation, signatures related to C$_{i}$ observed by deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) tend to overlap with those of other primary defects, making the direct identification of C$_{i}$-related levels difficult. Recent literature has suggested to assign the so-called M center, often found in as-irradiated 4H-SiC, to charge state transitions of the C$_{i}$ defect in different configurations. In this work, we have introduced excess carbon into low-doped n-type 150 {\mu}m thick 4$H$-SiC epilayers by thermal annealing, with a pyrolyzed carbon cap on the sample surface acting as a carbon source. Because the layers exhibited initially low concentrations of carbon vacancies ([V$_{C}$] = 10$^{11}$ cm$^{-3}$), this enabled us to study the case of complete V$_{C}$ annihilation, and formation of defects due to excess carbon, i.e. carbon interstitials C$_{i}$ and their higher-order complexes. We report on the occurrence of several new levels upon C injection which are likely C$_{i}$-related. Their properties are different from those found for the M center, which points towards a different structural identity of the detected levels. This suggests the existence of a rich variety of C$_{i}$-related defects. The study will also help generating new insights into the microscopic process of V$_{C}$ annihilation during carbon injection processes.