Using first principle calculations, an investigation was made of the energetic and electronic properties of two stacking faults that had recently been identified experimentally in as-grown 4H-SiC homo-epitaxial films. It was found that both defects generated two separate split-off bands localized below the bottom of the conduction band. The energy of the deepest intra-gap state associated with each defect was in excellent agreement with photoluminescence measurements. Furthermore, formation energies of 0.3 and 2.4mJ/m2 were calculated for the (4,4) and (3,5) defects, respectively; much smaller than the energy of any other stacking fault; this result justifies their dominance in as-grown epilayers.

First Principles Investigation on the Modifications of the 4H-SiC Band Structure Due to the (4,4) and (3,5) Stacking Faults. M.Camarda, A.La Magna, P.Delugas, F.La Via: Applied Physics Express, 2011, 4[2], 025802