Charge-state transitions of muonium in 6H silicon carbide

Abstract

The muonium analog of hydrogen as an isolated impurity was investigated to above 1000 K in n-type, p-type, and high-resistivity 6H-SiC. Temperature-dependent muon spin precession amplitudes from the combined Mu(+) and Mu(-) states reveal a series of charge-state transitions. The low-temperature transitions in doped samples are assigned to carrier capture processes. Ionization energies in high-resistivity 6H-SiC locate the Mu donor and acceptor levels at E-C -280 and E-v + 860 meV, respectively. The present results place the Mu(+/-) pinning energy in 6H-SiC in excellent agreement with that obtained for other group-IV materials. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.