The migration of C interstitials through the 4H–SiC lattice, and their recombination with vacancies, was investigated theoretically by using a self-consistent charge density functional based tight-binding method. For vacancy–interstitial pairs created by irradiation, the capture radii of Si and C vacancies were examined; showing that interstitial migration through the otherwise perfect lattice began to become important at distances greater than 4 nearest-neighbor atomic distances.

Interstitial-Based Vacancy Annealing in 4H–SiC. E.Rauls, T.E.M.Staab, Z.Hajnal, T.Frauenheim: Physica B, 2001, 308-310, 645-8