Silicon vacancy in SiC: A high-spin state defect

We report results from spin-polarized ab initio local spin-density calculations for the silicon vacancy (VSi) in 3C– and 2H–SiC in all its possible charge states. The calculated electronic structure for SiC reveals the presence of a stable spin-aligned electron-state t2 near the midgap. The neutral and doubly negative charge states of VSi in 3C–SiC are stabilized in a high-spin configuration with S=1 giving rise to a ground state, which is a many-electron orbital singlet T13. For the singly negative VSi, we find a high-spin ground-state A24 with S=3/2. In the high-spin configuration, VSi preserves the Td symmetry. These results indicate that in neutral, singly, and doubly negative charge states a strong exchange coupling, which prefers parallel electron spins, overcomes the Jahn–Teller energy. In other charge states, the ground state of VSi has a low-spin configuration.