The expansion behavior of a single Shockley stacking fault (SSSF) originating from a basal plane dislocation in a 4H-SiC epitaxial layer on the (112¯0) a-plane under electron beam (EB) (//[112¯0]) irradiation was observed. The width of the SSSF was proportional to the EB current. EB irradiation at a fixed spot outside an SSSF can expand the SSSF as effectively as direct SSSF irradiation. It was found that the selective excitation of an SSSF and/or a Si-core partial dislocation (PD) is possible by appropriately setting the EB irradiation position because the cathodoluminescence spectrum varies with the irradiation position around an SSSF. The rate of SSSF expansion upon the indirect excitation of a Si-core PD is much larger than that upon direct SSSF excitation. However, the expansion rate under both indirect SSSF excitation and indirect Si-core PD excitation is smaller than that under indirect Si-core excitation. The C-core PD became mobile after supplying a threshold number of electron-hole pairs.

Threading dislocations have been studied by means of etch pit method using molten KOH+Na 2 O 2 solution, cathodoluminescence and transmission electron microscopy. We focus on the geometrical features of etch pits and their correlation with the recombination behavior at the dislocations. Four types of etch pits can be recognized after etching according to their sizes and depths, among which the middle-sized etch pits correspond to dislocations with the strongest non-radiative recombination. TEM observation has confirmed that dislocation beneath the large-sized etch pit is a mixed-type dislocation having both c-and a-component.

Correlations between the structural properties and nonradiative recombination (NRR) behaviors of threading dislocations in freestanding hydride-vapor-phase-epitaxy (HVPE) GaN substrates were investigated using cathodoluminescence (CL), the etch pit method, transmission electron...

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