A set of powerful x-ray imaging techniques using white-beam synchrotron radiation have been developed and applied to clearly reveal and map micropipes in SiC crystals at a “magnified” level. The experimental results and the corresponding simulations demonstrate explicitly that the micropipes are pure superscrew dislocations (SSDs). Moreover, these techniques provide accurate descriptions of the detailed structure of the SSDs, including the spatial distribution of the strain fields, the magnitudes of the Burgers vectors, the dislocation senses, and the surface relaxation effects.

A kinematic (geometrical) diffraction simulation model has been developed to provide understanding of direct dislocation images on synchrotron white‐beam X‐ray topographs, and has been successfully applied to illustrate the contrast formation mechanisms involved in images of micropipe‐related superscrew dislocations in silicon carbide crystals. The coincidence of the simulations with the contrast features of the superscrew dislocation images, recorded using a series of synchrotron topography techniques, shows that this model is capable of revealing the detailed diffraction behavior of the highly distorted region around the dislocation core and determining the quantitative characteristics of the dislocations. The simulation technique is thus demonstrated to be a simple but efficient method for interpretation of synchrotron topographs, and may be applied to explain the topographic contrast characters of general crystal defects.

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Electric breakdown in GaN p-n junctions was investigated. GaN p+-p-n+ structures were grown on 6H–SiC substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. Mg and Si were used as dopants. Mesa structures were fabricated by reactive ion etching. Capacitance–voltage measurements showed that the p-n junctions were linearly graded. The impurity gradient in the p-n junctions ranged from 2×1022 to 2×1023 cm−4. Reverse current–voltage characteristics of the p-n junctions were studied in the temperature range from 200 to 600 K. The diodes exhibited abrupt breakdown at a reverse voltage of 40–150 V. The breakdown had a microplasmic nature. The strength of the electric breakdown field in the p-n junctions depended on the impurity gradient and was measured to be from 1.5 to 3 MV/cm. It was found that the breakdown voltage increases with temperature. The temperature coefficient of the breakdown voltage was ∼2×10−2 V/K.

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