Activation and control of visible single defects in 4H-, 6H-, and 3C-SiC by oxidation

Lohrmann, A.*; Castelletto, S.*; Klein, J. R.*; Oshima, Takeshi; Bosi, M.*; Negri, M.*; Lau, D. W. M.*; Gibson, B. C.*; Prawer, S.*; McCallum, J. C.*; Johnson, B. C.*

Creation and characterisation of single photon emitters near the surface of 4H- and 6H-silicon carbide bulk substrates and 3C-SiC epitaxially grown on silicon substrates were investigated. These single photon emitters can be created and stabilized by thermal annealing in an oxygen atmosphere at temperatures above 550 C. Hydrofluoric acid (HF) treatment is shown to effectively annihilate the emission from defects and to restore an optically clean surface. However, the emission from the defects can be obtained after re-oxidation above 550 C. By measuring using standard confocal microscopy techniques, the excited state lifetimes for the emitters are found to be in the nanosecond regime in all three polytypes, and the emission dipoles are aligned with the lattice.