Deep traps in the boron extended tail region of ion implanted 6H-SiC p
n junctions formed during annealing have been studied using deep level
transient spectroscopy. Dramatically high concentrations of similar t
o 10(16) cm(-3) of the D center have been observed through the unusual
appearance of minority peaks in the majority carrier spectra. No evid
ence is found for any shallow boron acceptor in this region, but an in
duced hole trap I-h at E-V+0.46 eV is found under cold implantation co
nditions. These results support the picture of the extended tail, rich
in boron-vacancy complexes such as the D center, which forms as a res
ult of vacancy enhanced indiffusion. The dominance of the electrically
active D center in the depletion layer of the technologically importa
nt SIC pn junction diode suggests the need for further research in thi
s area. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.