Anharmonic vibrations of the dicarbon antisite defect in 4H-SiC

Dicarbon antisite defects were created by either electron irradiation or ion implantation into 4H-SiC. The no-phonon lines from the dicarbon antisite defect center were observed with their phonon replicas. The stretch frequencies of the defect were observed up to the fifth harmonic. The Morse potential model accounts for the anharmonicity quite well and gives a very good prediction of the vibration energies up to the fifth harmonic with an error of less than 1%. First principles calculations show that the model of a dicarbon antisite defect along with its four nearest neighboring carbon atoms can explain the observed anharmonicity. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3699269]