Doping of SiC Crystals during Sublimation Growth and Diffusion

The preparation of SiC crystals doped with various impurities introduced during the process of sublimation growth and diffusion is described. The growth of SiC crystals was carried out by a sublimation-sandwich method, proposed by us in 1970. Crystals of the n- and p-type conductivity with maximum content of electrically active impurities (of the order of 1021 cm−3) were obtained. The solubility values of more than 15 impurities were determined. Special tantalum containers with several temperature zones, allowing to introduce any impurity into SiC practically, are developed. The dependences of the impurities concentration on the temperature, growth rate and seed orientation are found. Diffusion of impurities of boron, aluminum, gallium, beryllium, lithium, nitrogen and phosphorus in silicon carbide polytypes was studied. Diffusion coefficients of these impurities in a wide temperature range are determined. It is shown that for a number of impurities diffusion cannot be described by standard distributions that are explained by the presence of several states of diffusing centers. Fast-diffusing states are atoms located in interstices, as well as centers, including the impurity atom and point defect. The extremely low diffusion mobility of lattice point atoms in the SIC lattice is noted

DISTRIBUTION OF DISLOCATIONS IN AlN CRYSTALS GROWN ON EVAPORATING SiC SUBSTRATES

By the use of high-resolution X-ray diffractometry and synchrotron radiation topography, the distribution of dislocations in AlN crystals grown on evaporating SiC substrates is studied. The growth of AlN layer in one process with the evaporation of SiC substrate gave the possibility to prevent the relaxation of thermal stresses through cracking of AlN during cooling the structure. The continuous 0.2-1.5 mm thick plates were used as the model objects for the study of dislocation structure near the AlN/SiC interface. Analysis of the broadening of the Bragg reflection peaks, the shape of scattering maps in reciprocal space and topographs showed that dislocations formed the mosaic structure, different from the distribution of threading dislocations in GaN epilayers. A theoretical model for misfit strain relaxation in the growing AlN layer is suggested. The results enable to clarify the dislocation processes during sublimation growth of industrial quality AlN crystals

Analysis of Erbium and Vanadium Diffusion in Porous Silicon Carbide

Experimental data on diffusion of erbium and vanadium in porous and nonporous silicon carbide at 1700 and 2200°C have been used for modelling diffusion in porous SiC. It is shown that the consideration of pore structure modification under annealing via vacancy redistribution allows for satisfactory description of dopant diffusion. As expected, important contribution to the diffusion in the porous medium is found to be made by the walls of the pores: in SiC, the vacancy surface diffusion coefficient on the walls appears to exceed that in the bulk of the material by an order of magnitude. When thermal treatment transforms pore channels into closed voids, pathways for accelerated diffusion cease to exist and diffusion rates in porous and nonporous SiC become similar

Exploring the Properties of the V_B^- Defect in hBN: Optical Spin Polarization, Rabi Oscillations, and Coherent Nuclei Modulation

Optically active point defects in semiconductors have received great attention in the field of solid-state quantum technologies. Hexagonal boron nitride, with an ultra-wide band gap E_g = 6 eV, containing a negatively charged boron vacancy (V_B^-) with unique spin, optical, and coherent properties presents a new two-dimensional platform for the implementation of quantum technologies. This work establishes the value of V_B^ - spin polarization under optical pumping with {\lambda}ext = 532 nm laser using high-frequency ({\nu}mw = 94 GHz) electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. In optimal conditions polarization was found to be P = 38.4 %. Our study reveals that Rabi oscillations induced on polarized spin states persist for up to 30-40 microseconds, which is nearly two orders of magnitude longer than what was previously reported. Analysis of the coherent electron-nuclear interaction through the observed electron spin echo envelope modulation (ESEEM) made it possible to detect signals from remote nitrogen and boron nuclei, and to establish a corresponding quadrupole coupling constant Cq = 180 kHz related to nuclear quadrupole moment of 14N. These results have fundamental importance for understanding spin properties of boron vacancy