Dependences of contraction/expansion of stacking faults on temperature and current density in 4H-SiC p–i–n diodes

Abstract

To investigate the mechanism of contraction/expansion behavior of Shockley stacking faults (SSFs) in 4H-SiC p–i–n diodes, the dependences of the SSF behavior on temperature and injection current density were investigated by electroluminescence image observation. We investigated the dependences of both triangle- and bar-shaped SSFs on the injection current density at four temperature levels. All SSFs in this study show similar temperature and injection current density dependences. We found that the expansion of SSFs at a high current density was converted to contraction at a certain value as the current decreased and that the value is temperature-dependent. It has been confirmed that SSF behavior, which was considered complex or peculiar, might be explained mainly by the energy change caused by SSFs.