Optical Characterization of Silicon Carbide Polytypes

Abstract

This article is a review of recent progress in our understanding of the optical properties of the important polytypes of SiC: 3C, 4H, 6H, and 15R. We focus on experimental work but also compare results obtained by experiment with theory. The topics of emphasis are: 1. vacuum ultraviolet reflectivity, 2. free excitons, 3. spectroscopy of shallow donors and acceptors, 4. the impurity boron in SiC, 5. the rare earth impurity erbium in SiC, and 6. optical properties of porous SiC.