Effective masses of two-dimensional electron gases around cubic inclusions in hexagonal silicon carbide

The main purpose of this article is to determine the two-dimensional effective mass tensors of electrons confined in thin $3C$ wells in hexagonal SiC, which is a first step in the understanding of in-plane electron motion in the novel quantum structures. We have performed ab initio band structure calculations, based on the density functional theory in the local density approximation, for single and multiple stacking faults leading to thin $3C$-like regions in $4H$- and 6H-SiC and deduced electron effective masses for two-dimensional electron gases around the cubic inclusions. We have found that electrons confined in the thin $3C$-like layers have clearly heavier effective masses than in the perfect bulk 3C-SiC single crystal.