The generation and evolution of defects in 4H-SiC p-n junctions due to carrier injection under forward bias have been investigated by synchrotron white beam x-ray topography, electroluminescence imaging, and KOH etching. The defects are Shockley stacking faults with rhombic or triangular shapes bound by partial dislocation loops with dislocation lines along Peierls valleys (〈11-20〉) or along the intersection of the basal plane containing the fault and diode surface. The Burgers vector of all bounding partials was of 1/3〈10-10〉-type. Among six possible types of partial dislocations with these properties, only two were observed in the volume of the epitaxial structure. One was tentatively identified as 30° carbon-core C(g) 30° and second as 30° silicon-core Si(g) 30° partial dislocation. Only one of them proposed to be the Si(g) 30° partial have been observed to move and emit light under forward bias. The other type of bounding dislocation C(g) 30° remained stationary during current injection. Low angle grain boundaries have been observed to act as one of a number of possible nucleation sites of stacking faults.
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