Electron spin resonance study of defects in CVD-grown 3C-SiC irradiated with 2MeV protons

Electron spin resonance (ESR) was used to study defects induced by 2MeV-proton irradiation in cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC) epitaxially grown on Si substrates by chemical vapor deposition. A new ESR signal labeled T5 was observed at temperatures lower than ≈100 K in Al doped, p-type 3C-SiC epilayers irradiated. The T5 signal has anisotropic g-values of g₁ = 2.0020 ± 0.0001, g₂ = 2.0007 ± 0.0001,and g₃ = 1.9951 ± 0.0001. The principal axes of the g-tensor were found to be along the 〈100〉 directions, indicating that the T5 center has D₂ symmetry. Isochronal annealing of the irradiated epilayers showed that the T5 center was annealed at temperatures around 150° C. A tentative model is discussed for the T5 center.