The thermal stability and annealing kinetics of a recently reported bistable defect, found using deep-level transient spectroscopy and labeled the M-center, was studied by using n-type epitaxially grown 4H-SiC layers implanted with 2.5MeV protons to a dose of 1012/cm2. One configuration of the bistable defect led to two levels in the band gap, 0.42eV (M1) and 0.7 to 0.8eV (M3) below the conduction band edge (Ec), and another led to one level (M2) at Ec-0.7eV. The defect could be switched back and forth between the two configurations by varying the applied bias and the sample temperature. Isochronal and isothermal annealing showed that the defect anneals out at between 310 and 370C with a first-order kinetics process. The origin of the defect was not known but it was implantation-induced and a low-order complex.

Annealing Study of a Bistable Defect in Proton-Implanted n-Type 4H-SiC. H.K.Nielsen, D.M.Martin, P.Lévêque, A.Hallén, B.G.Svensson: Physica B, 2003, 340-342, 743-7