Recombination-enhanced extension of stacking faults in 4H-SiC <i>p-i-n</i> diodes under forward bias

The extension of stacking faults in a forward-biased 4H-SiC PiN diodes by the recombination-enhanced motion of leading partial dislocations has been investigated by the technique of optical emission microscopy. From the temperature dependence of the measured velocity of the partials, an activation energy of 0.27 eV is obtained. Based on this and analysis of the emission spectra, a radiative recombination level of 2.8 eV for the stacking fault, and two energy levels for the partial dislocation, a radiative one at 1.8 eV and a nonradiative at 2.2 eV, have been determined.