Influence of nitrogen doping and annealing on the silicon vacancy in 4 H − SiC

The silicon vacancy $({V}_Si)$ in $4H$-SiC at its cubic site (V2-center) has shown significant promise for quantum technologies, due to coherent spin states, the mature material system, and stable optical emission. In these SiC-based applications, doping plays a crucial role. It can be used to control the charge state of ${V}_Si$ and formation of different types of defects. Despite its importance, there has been little research on the effects of doping. In this work, we perform a study of the effects of nitrogen doping and annealing on the photoluminescence (PL), optically-detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) contrast, and dephasing times of ensembles of V2 in epilayers of $4H$-SiC. The results show an enhancement of PL that depends on the electron irradiation dose for a given electron concentration, supported by theoretical modeling of the charge state of ${V}_Si$ in the presence of nitrogen. Nitrogen substituted for carbon is shown to very efficiently donate one electron to ${V}_Si$. We also observe that the ODMR contrast can be increased from 0.5% in low doped SiC to 1.5% by nitrogen doping of ${10}¹⁷$ to ${10}¹⁸\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{c}{\mathrm{m}}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$ and annealing at $500\ensuremath{-}600{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}\mathrm{C}$ for one hour, with only a 20% decrease in PL compared to unannealed. Some of the improvement in contrast is offset by a reduction in ${T}₂^*$ at these doping levels, but the estimated cw ODMR shot-noise limited sensitivity is still 1.6 times higher than that of undoped, unannealed SiC.