Identification of iron in 6H-SiC crystals by electron paramagnetic resonance

We report on the first observation of the electron paramagnetic resonance o f iron impurity in SiC:Fe crystals. Iron exists in the Fe3+ (3d(5)) charge state with electron spin S = 5/2 and seems to occupy silicon sites in the 6 H-SiC lattice. The EPR spectrum of Fe3+ in SIC shows a characteristic aniso tropy of an S = 5/2 system in a strong axial crystalline field with fine st ructure parameter D = 0.25 cm(-1). The g-factor is nearly isotropic, g = 1. 99. The possibility of using iron doping to obtain semi-insulating SiC crys tals is discussed.