Evidence for a general mechanism modulating carrier lifetime in SiC

Stacking faults (SFs) in semiconductors are generally regarded as the electrically active defects that reduce the minority carrier lifetime. In contrast to this typical phenomenon, here we report that the SFs in SiC functionalize as the ideal quantum well (QW) structure for electrons. Due to the QW effect, an increase of minority carrier lifetime is observed at the SF regions. The reason for the lifetime increment is discussed with the electron dissipation along the SF plane. Our results suggest that this is a general mechanism regarding the increase of minority carrier lifetime at the defects.