It was shown that intrinsic defects responsible for the semi-insulating properties of SiC represent Si-C divacancies in a neutral state (V Si-V C)0, which had the triplet ground state. The energy level scheme and the mechanism of creating the photo-induced population inversion of the triplet sublevels of the divacancy ground state were determined. It was concluded that there was a singlet excited state through which spin polarization was accomplished, and this fact opened the possibility of detecting magnetic resonance on single divacancies.

EPR Identification of the Triplet Ground State and Photoinduced Population Inversion for a Si-C Divacancy in Silicon Carbide. P.G.Baranov, I.V.Ilin, E.N.Mokhov, M.V.Muzafarova, S.B.Orlinskii, J.Schmidt: Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics Letters, 2005, 82[7], 441-3