In-grown stacking faults were planar defects that do not propagate under either an applied optical or electrical bias; however, their effect upon the electrical characteristics of diodes was not well understood. Evidence was presented here for a multi-layered in-grown stacking faults and discuss its electrical and optical characteristics. These in-grown stacking faults, despite similar electroluminescence signatures, were observed to act as either a current barrier or as a short between the p+ and n+ layers, causing increases in the leakage current in p-i-n diodes. The difference in conduction behavior was attributed to the nucleation location of the in-grown stacking faults within the diode drift region.

Observation of a Multilayer Planar In-Grown Stacking Fault in 4H-SiC p-i-n Diodes. J.D.Caldwell, P.B.Klein, M.E.Twigg, R.E.Stahlbush, O.J.Glembocki, K.X.Liu, K.D.Hobart, F.Kub: Applied Physics Letters, 2006, 89[10], 103519 (3pp)