A review was presented of the albeit limited current understanding of the effect of various crystal defects upon SiC devices. Apart from micro-pipes and triangular inclusions, whose number densities had been shrunk to acceptably low values in recent years, many of the defects appeared to have little adverse effect upon SiC-based sensors, high-frequency radio-frequency and signal-conditioning components. However, high-power switching devices required a higher quality and were more susceptible to the reliability problems that arose from the electrical property non-uniformities which were likely to occur at extended crystal defects. Particular emphasis was placed upon the impact of closed-core screw dislocations upon high-power switching devices because these difficult-to-observe defects were present in number densities of thousands per cm2 in commercial SiC epilayers.

Electrical Impact of SiC Structural Crystal Defects on High Electric Field Devices. P.G.Neudeck: Materials Science Forum, 2000, 338-342, 1161-6