Photoluminescence study of radiation-enhanced dislocation glide in 4H-SiC

Expansion of Shockley stacking faults in 4H-SiC achieved by the radiation-enhanced glide of 30°-Si(g) partial dislocations has been investigated by photoluminescence experiments. The enhancement rate of the dislocation glide that was induced by light illumination in the present study was found to be governed directly by the light intensity, not by the photogenerated carriers. This fact indicates that the glide enhancement in 4H-SiC is not explained by the widely speculated mechanism that the electronic energy released on recombination of photoexcited electron-hole pairs is utilized to assist the dislocation glide. A photoionization of dislocations is proposed to be the cause of the glide enhancement.