It was recalled that SiC bipolar devices exhibited a degradation under forward-biased operation due to the formation and rapid propagation of stacking faults in the active region of the device. It was believed that the observed rapid stacking fault growth was due to a recombination-enhanced dislocation glide mechanism at the bordering partial dislocations having either Si or C core atoms. The effect of charge on the dislocation kinks was investigated and it was found that only Si kinks exhibited a deep filled band above the valence band. Trapping of holes into this band permitted dislocation glide at room temperature. This mechanism was distinct from recombination-enhanced dislocation glide as it requires only holes to be trapped at a Si partial and not in addition electrons in stacking fault states. Attention was also paid to the pinning of dislocations by N and B, and a strong pinning of the C core by N and of the Si core by B was found.

Movement and Pinning of Dislocations in SiC. T.A.G.Eberlein, R.Jones, A.T.Blumenau, S.Öberg, P.R.Briddon: Physica Status Solidi C, 2007, 4[8], 2923-8