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  • Access by Xinjiang University

Nuclear-Magnetic-Resonance Study of Heavily Nitrogen-Doped Silicon Carbide

Michael N. Alexander*

  • Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14850

  • *Present address: Materials Research Laboratory, Army Materials and Mechanics Research Center, Watertown, Mass. 02172.

Phys. Rev. 172, 331 – Published 10 August, 1968

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.172.331

Abstract

Samples of heavily nitrogen-doped silicon carbide (SiC: N) have been studied by use of pulse nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) at a resonance frequency of 8.5 MHz. Measurements were made, for Si29 and C13, of the Knight shift, the spin-lattice relaxation time T1, and the free-induction decay time T2* (which is inversely proportional to the linewidth). The samples of SiC: N studied had nitrogen donor concentrations nd estimated to be in the range 1.9×1019nd6.0×1020 cm3. Samples for which nd<1020 were of the 6H polytype, and samples for which nd>1020 were of the cubic polytype. The measurements on the cubic SiC: N samples show a markedly different behavior of the electron interaction with the silicon and carbon sublattices. The T1's of Si29 are an order of magnitude larger than those of C13 for these samples. In no case is the Si29 Knight shift observable, whereas the C13 Knight shift increases with nd, and is 0.9±0.1 G (in 7.92 kG) for the most heavily doped sample; the measured C13 Knight shifts agree with the C13 Knight shifts predicted from T1, using the Korringa relation. The C13 linewidth increases with nd, suggesting that the linewidth is determined by a distribution of Knight shifts. From the temperature dependence of both the Si29 and C13 T1's, it is inferred that the electron system is degenerate in the cubic SiC: N samples. The results can be explained in terms of the electron wave functions appropriate to the conduction-band minimum in cubic SiC. Thus it is inferred that the electron degeneracy in these samples is associated with the Fermi energy lying in the conduction band of the host SiC. The NMR properties of the 6H SiC: N samples are dominated by nuclear interaction with paramagnetic electrons localized, at liquid-helium temperatures, on donor sites or donor complexes. The temperature dependence of T1 and of the linewidth indicates that electrons are "frozen" on donor sites and donor complexes at liquid-helium temperatures, and are thermally activated at higher temperatures. The results of the NMR study of 6H SiC: N are compared to results from electron-transport measurements; the transport measurements, which were made at temperatures higher than those used in this experiment, indicate that the electron systems of these samples are characterized by the existence of delocalized, mobile electrons.

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