Papers by Author: Wolf Gero Schmidt

Abstract: In non-annealed 6H-SiC samples that were electron irradiated at room temperature, a new EPR signal due to a S=1 defect center with exceptionally large zero-field splitting (D = +652•10-4 cm-1) has been observed under illumination. A positive sign of D demonstrates that the spin-orbit contribution to the zero-field splitting exceeds by far that of the spin-spin interaction. A principal axis of the fine structure tilted by 59° against the crystal c-axis as well as the exceptionally high zero-field splitting D can be qualitatively understood by the occurrence of additional close-lying defect levels in defect clusters resulting in comparatively large second-order spin-orbit coup¬ling. A tentative assignment to vacancy clusters is supported by the observed annealing behavior.

Abstract: EPR and ESE in nitrogen doped 4H- and 6H-SiC show besides the well known triplet lines of 14N on quasi-cubic (Nc,k) and hexagonal (Nc,h) sites additional lines (Nx) of comparatively low intensity providing half the hf splitting of Nc,k. Frequently re-interpreted as spin-forbid¬den lines, arising from Nc,k pairs and triads or resulting from hopping conductivity, only re¬cent¬ly the theoretical calculation of the corresponding g-tensors lead to a tentative model of distant NC donor pairs on inequivalent lattice sites which are coupled to S = 1 assuming a fine-struc¬ture splitting too small to be observed in the EPR and ESE experiments. In this work, we pre¬sent ESE nutation measurements confirming S = 1 for the Nx center. Analysing the nutation frequencies in comparison with that of the Nc,k (S = 1/2) spectrum as well as the line width of ESE and EPR spectra we obtain a rough estimate between 5104 cm-1 and 50104 cm-1 for the fine-structure splitting demonstrating efficient spin-coupling between nitrogen donors in 4H-SiC.