The list of semiconductor materials with spectroscopically fingerprinted self-interstitials is very short. The M-center in 4H-SiC, a bistable defect responsible for a family of electron traps, has been deprived of a model which could unveil its real importance for almost two decades. Using advanced first-principles calculations and junction spectroscopy, we demonstrate that the properties of M, including bistability, annealing, reconfiguration kinetics, and electronic levels, match those of the carbon self-interstitial.
@article{arxiv.2105.04209,
title = {The M-center in 4H-SiC is a carbon self-interstitial},
author = {J. Coutinho and J. D. Gouveia and T. Makino and T. Ohshima and Ž. Pastuović and L. Bakrač and T. Brodar and I. Capan},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2105.04209},
year = {2021}
}