Annealing effects on single Shockley faults in 4H-SiC

Abstract

We investigated the annealing effect on single Shockley faults (SSFs) in the SiC epitaxial layers by photoluminescence mapping in combination with high-power laser illumination. Comparing before and after annealing at 350–550°C, it became obvious that annealing results in the shrinking of the faulted area of SSFs. When high-power laser illumination is performed again on the same area annealed at 550°C, the right-angled triangular SSFs reformed into exactly the same features as those before annealing, but the isosceles triangular SSFs did not reform. The annealing temperature to start shrinking the faulted area differs according to the type of SSF.