- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine

Physical Review B

Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Open Access

Vanadium photoluminescence in 3C-SiC

Danial Shafizadeh1, Valdas Jokubavicius1,2, Koichi Murata3, Hidekazu Tsuchida3, Péter Udvarhelyi4,5, Guodong Bian4, Oliver Lang6, Merve Karaman6, Diego Haya Enriquez6 et al.

Moritz Brehm6, Thomas Fromherz6, Michael Trupke6,7, Jianwu Sun1, Rositsa Yakimova1, Igor A. Abrikosov1, Nguyen T. Son1, Adam Gali4,8,9,*, and Ivan G. Ivanov1,†

  • *Contact author: gali.adam@wigner.hun-ren.hu
  • †Contact author: ivaiv28@liu.se
PDF

Phys. Rev. B 113, 075201 – Published 2 February, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/nv8v-gwlv

Abstract

Early investigations on vanadium in the cubic 3C-SiC polytype concluded that the luminescence of the center is not possible because the excited state is degenerate with the conduction band. However, later work refuted this notion, demonstrating a doublet in photoluminescence (PL) at ∼1493–1495nm, apparently associated with vanadium (V). In this work, we undertake a detailed experimental and theoretical study of the V center in 3C-SiC. We show that the vanadium PL can be seen as a recombination of an exciton bound to V, in contrast to the other two common hexagonal polytypes (4H- and 6H-SiC), where the PL is due to an interatomic transition of the 3d electron within the V center, according to a well-established model. We also show that the splitting observed in the PL lines is likely not inherent to the center and is due to stress present in the samples. Ideally, in a strain-free 3C-SiC material, the vanadium PL will comprise a single line, which makes the V center in this polytype attractive for applications as a qubit at moderate temperatures. This contrasts with the hexagonal polytypes where the splitting of the zero-phonon line is inherent to the center due to the crystal structure, which has a negative effect on the spin coherence at liquid helium temperature, and millikelvin temperatures are needed to improve the spin coherence.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

Supplemental Material

References (54)

  1. H. McD. Hobgood, R. C. Glass, G. Augustine, R. H. Hopkins, J. Jenny, M. Skowronski, W. C. Mitchel, and M. Roth, Semi-insulating 6H–SiC grown by physical vapor transport, Appl. Phys. Lett. 66, 1364 (1995).
  2. J. R. Jenny, J. Skowronski, W. C. Mitchel, H. M. Hobgood, R. C. Glass, G. Augustine, and R. H. Hopkins, Deep level transient spectroscopic and Hall effect investigation of the position of the vanadium acceptor level in 4H and 6H SiC, Appl. Phys. Lett. 68, 1963 (1996).
  3. W. C. Mitchel, W. D. Mitchel, G. Landis, H. E. Smith, W. Lee, and M. E. Zvanut, Vanadium donor and acceptor levels in semi-insulating 4H- and 6H-SiC, J. Appl. Phys. 101, 013707 (2007).
  4. W. C. Mitchel, R. Perrin, J. Goldstein, A. Saxler, M. Roth, S. R. Smith, J. S. Solomon, and A. O. Evwaraye, Fermi level control and deep levels in semi-insulating 4H–SiC, J. Appl. Phys. 86, 5040 (1999).
  5. A. O. Evwaraye, S. R. Smith, and W. C. Mitchel, Optical admittance studies of vanadium donor level in high-resistivity p-type 6H-SiC, J. Appl. Phys. 79, 253 (1996).
  6. A. O. Evwaraye, S. R. Smith, and W. C. Mitchel, Determination of the band offsets of the 4H–SiC/6H–SiC heterojunction using the vanadium donor (0/+) level as a reference, Appl. Phys. Lett. 67, 3319 (1995).
  7. K. Maier, J. Schneider, W. Wilkening, S. Leibenzeder, and R. Stein, Electron spin resonance studies of transition metal deep level impurities in SiC, Mat. Sci. Eng. B 11, 27 (1992).
  8. N. Achtziger and W. Withuhn, Band gap states of Ti, V, and Cr in 4H–silicon carbide, Appl. Phys. Lett. 71, 110 (1997).
  9. N. Achtziger and W. Withuhn, Band-gap states of Ti, V, and Cr in 4H-SiC: Identification and characterization by elemental transmutation of radioactive isotopes, Phys. Rev. B 57, 12181 (1998).
  10. N. T. Son, P. Carlsson, A. Gällström, B. Magnusson, and E. Janzén, Deep levels and carrier compensation in V-doped semi-insulating 4H-SiC, Appl. Phys. Lett. 91, 202111 (2007).
  11. P. Cilibrizzi, M. J. Arshad, B. Tissot, N. T. Son, I. G. Ivanov, Th. Astner, Ph. Koller, M. Ghezellou, J. Ul-Hassan, D. White, C. Bekker, G. Burkard, M. Trupke, and C. Bonato, Ultra-narrow inhomogeneous spectral distribution of telecom-wavelength vanadium centres in isotopically-enriched silicon carbide, Nat. Commun. 14, 8448 (2023).
  12. V. Lauer, G. Brémond, A. Souifi, G. Guillot, K. Chourou, M. Anikin, R. Madar, B. Clerjaud, and C. Naud, Electrical and optical characterisation of vanadium in 4H and 6H–SiC, Mat. Sci. Eng. B 61–62, 248 (1999).
  13. J. Schneider, H. D. Müller, K. Maier, W. Wilkening, F. Fuchs, A. Dörnen, S. Leibenzeder, and R. Stein, Infrared spectra and electron spin resonance of vanadium deep level impurities in sincon carbide, Appl. Phys. Lett. 56, 1184 (1990).
  14. B. Kaufmann, A. Dörnen, and F. S. Ham, Crystal-field model of vanadium in 6H silicon carbide, Phys. Rev. B 55, 13009 (1997).
  15. L. Spindlberger, A. Csóré, G. Thiering, S. Putz, R. Karhu, J. Ul Hassan, N. T. Son, T. Fromherz, A. Gali, and M. Trupke, Optical properties of vanadium in 4H silicon carbide for quantum technology, Phys. Rev. Appl. 12, 014015 (2019).
  16. G. Wolfowicz, C. P. Anderson, B. Diler, O. G. Poluektov, F. J. Heremans, and D. D. Awschalom, Vanadium spin qubits as telecom quantum emitters in silicon carbide, Sci. Adv. 6, eaaz1192 (2020).
  17. Th. Astner, Ph. Koller, C. M. Gilardoni, J. Hendriks, N. T. Son, I. G. Ivanov, J. Ul Hassan, C. H. van der Wal, and M. Trupke, Vanadium in silicon carbide: Telecom-ready spin centres with long relaxation lifetimes and hyperfine-resolved optical transitions, Quantum Sci. Technol. 9, 035038 (2024).
  18. K. F. Dombrowski, U. Kaufmann, M. Kunzer, K. Maier, J. Schneider, V. B. Shields, and M. G. Spencer, Deep donor state of vanadium in cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC), Appl. Phys. Lett. 65, 1811 (1994).
  19. K. F. Dombrowski, U. Kaufmann, M. Kunzer, K. Maier, J. Schneider, V. B. Shields, and M. G. Spencer, Identification of the neutral impurity in cubic 3C-SiC by electron-spin resonance and optically detected magnetic resonance, Phys. Rev. B 50, 18034 (1994).
  20. R. Yakimova, I. G. Ivanov, L. Vines, M. K. Linnarsson, A. Gällström, F. Giannazzo, F. Roccaforte, P. Wellmann, M. Syväjärvi, and V. Jokubavicius, Growth, defects and doping of 3C-SiC on hexagonal polytypes, ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol. 6, P741 (2017).
  21. V. Jokubavicius, G. R. Yazdi, R. Liljedahl, I. G. Ivanov, R. Yakimova, and M. Syväjärvi, Lateral enlargement growth mechanism of 3C-SiC on Off-Oriented 4H-SiC substrates, Cryst. Growth Des. 14, 6514 (2014).
  22. V. Jokubavicius, G. R. Yazdi, R. Liljedahl, I. G. Ivanov, J. Sun, X. Liu, Ph. Schuh, M. Wilhelm, P. Wellmann, R. Yakimova, and M. Syväjärvi, Single domain 3C-SiC growth on off-oriented 4H-SiC substrates, Cryst. Growth Des. 15, 2940 (2015).
  23. K. Murata, T. Tawara, A. Yang, R. Takanashi, T. Miyazawa, and H. Tsuchida, Wide-ranging control of carrier lifetimes in n-type 4H-SiC epilayer by intentional vanadium doping, J. Appl. Phys. 126, 045711 (2019).
  24. G. Kresse and J. Furthmüller, Efficient iterative schemes for ab initio total-energy calculations using a plane-wave basis set, Phys. Rev. B 54, 11169 (1996).
  25. G. Kresse and J. Hafner, Ab initio molecular dynamics for liquid metals, Phys. Rev. B 47, 558 (1993).
  26. G. Kresse and J. Furthmüller, Efficiency of ab-initio total energy calculations for metals and semiconductors using a plane-wave basis set, Comput. Mater. Sci. 6, 15 (1996).
  27. J. Paier, M. Marsman, K. Hummer, G. Kresse, I. C. Gerber, and J. G. Ángyán, Screened hybrid density functionals applied to solids, J. Chem. Phys. 124, 154709 (2006).
  28. J. Heyd, G. E. Scuseria, and M. Ernzerhof, Hybrid functionals based on a screened Coulomb potential, J. Chem. Phys. 118, 8207 (2003).
  29. A. V. Krukau, O. A. Vydrov, A. F. Izmaylov, and G. E. Scuseria, Influence of the exchange screening parameter on the performance of screened hybrid functionals, J. Chem. Phys. 125, 224106 (2006).
  30. P. Deák, B. Aradi, T. Frauenheim, E. Janzén, and A. Gali, Accurate defect levels obtained from the HSE06 range-separated hybrid functional, Phys. Rev. B 81, 153203 (2010).
  31. S. L. Dudarev, G. A. Botton, S. Y. Savrasov, C. J. Humphreys, and A. P. Sutton, Electron-energy-loss spectra and the structural stability of nickel oxide: An LSDA+U study, Phys. Rev. B 57, 1505 (1998).
  32. V. Ivády, I. A. Abrikosov, E. Janzén, and A. Gali, Role of screening in the density functional applied to transition-metal defects in semiconductors, Phys. Rev. B 87, 205201 (2013) .
  33. A. Gali, E. Janzén, P. Deák, G. Kresse, and E. Kaxiras, Theory of spin-conserving excitation of the center in diamond, Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 186404 (2009).
  34. J. M. Langer and H. Heinrich, Deep-level impurities: A possible guide to prediction of band-edge discontinuities in semiconductor heterojunctions, Phys. Rev. Lett. 55, 1414 (1985).
  35. D. Bimberg, M. Altarelli, and N. O. Lipari, A calculation of valence band masses, exciton and acceptor energies and the ground state properties of the electron-hole liquid in cubic SiC, Solid State Commun. 40, 437 (1981).
  36. I. G. Ivanov, T. Egilsson, J. Zhang, A. Ellison, and E. Janzén, Intrinsic photoconductivity of 6H-SiC and the free-exciton binding energy, Mater. Sci. Forum 353-356, 405 (2001).
  37. I. G. Ivanov, J. Zhang, L. Storasta, and E. Janzén, Photoconductivity of lightly-doped and semi-insulating 4H-SiC and the free exciton binding energy, Mater. Sci. Forum. 389-393, 613 (2002).
  38. D. Shafizadeh, J. Davidsson, T. Ohshima, N. T. Son, and I. G. Ivanov, Comparative study of divacancies in 3C-, 4H-, and 6H-SiC, Appl. Phys. Lett. 127, 054003 (2025).
  39. I. G. Ivanov, A. Gällström, R. Coble, R. P. Devaty, W. J. Choyke, and E. Janzén, Investigation of intrinsic carbon-related defects in 4H-SiC by selective-excitation photoluminescence spectroscopy, Mater. Sci. Forum 717-720, 259 (2012).
  40. A. Gali, Recent advances in the ab initio theory of solid-state defect qubits, Nanophotonics 12, 359 (2023).
  41. S. Steiner, S. Khmelevskyi, M. Marsmann, and G. Kresse, Calculation of the magnetic anisotropy with projected-augmented-wave methodology and the case study of disordered Fe1−xCox alloys, Phys. Rev. B 93, 224425 (2016).
  42. J. P. Perdew, K. Burke, and M. Ernzerhof, Generalized gradient approximation made simple, Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 3865 (1996).
  43. G. Thiering and A. Gali, Ab initio calculation of spin-orbit coupling for an NV center in diamond exhibiting dynamic Jahn-Teller effect, Phys. Rev. B 96, 081115(R) (2017).
  44. G. Bian, G. Thiering, and A. Gali, Theory of optical spin-polarization of axial divacancy and nitrogen-vacancy defects in 4H-SiC, Phys. Rev. Res. 7, 013320 (2025).
  45. See Supplemental Material at http://link.aps.org/supplemental/10.1103/nv8v-gwlv for the fit of the data from the lifetime measurements and further details on the strain distribution inhomogeneities in the samples as revealed by photoluminescence and Raman statistics, which includes Refs.  [48, 49].
  46. R. Karhu, E. Ö. Sveinbjörnsson, B. Magnusson, I. G. Ivanov, Ö. Danielsson, and J. Ul Hassan, CVD growth and properties of on-axis vanadium doped semi-insulating 4H-SiC epilayers, J. Appl. Phys. 125, 045702 (2019).
  47. S. Nakashima and H. Harima, Raman investigation of SiC polytypes, Phys. Stat. Sol. 162, 39 (1997).
  48. Yu. Goldberg, M. E. Levinshtein, and S. L. Rumyantsev, in Properties of Advanced Semiconductor Materials GaN, AlN, SiC, BN, SiC, SiGe, edited by M. E. Levinshtein, S. L. Rumyantsev, and M. S. Shur (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 2001), pp. 93–148.
  49. A. Taylor and R. M. Jones, in Silicon Carbide - A High Temperature Semiconductor, edited by J. R. O'Connor and Smiltens, Jr. (Pergamon Press, Oxford, London, New York, Paris, 1960), Vol. 147.
  50. W. Liu, X. Zhang, X. Zhao, R. Wang, D. Yang, and X. Pi, Formation mechanism of dislocation half-loop array in 4H-SiC epitaxial layers: Effect of triangular defects, J. Phys. D Appl. Phys. 58, 175103 (2025).
  51. F. Fujie, Ts. Shiono, K. Murata, N. Ishibashi, Yu. Mabuchi, and H. Tsuchida, Formation of basal plane dislocations by stress near epilayer/substrate interface of large-diameter SiC wafers with thick epitaxial layers, J. Appl. Phys. 135, 235706 (2024).
  52. S. S. Mitra, O. Brafman, W. B. Daniels, and R. K. Crawford, Pressure-induced phonon frequency shifts measured by Raman scattering, Phys. Rev. 186, 942 (1969).
  53. R. Orbach, Spin-lattice relaxation in rare-earth salts, Proc. R. Soc. Lon. Ser.-A 264, 458 (1961).
  54. C. B. P. Finn, R. Orbach, and W. P. Wolf, Spin-lattice relaxation in cerium magnesium nitrate at liquid helium temperature: A new process, Proc. Phys. Soc. 77, 261 (1961).

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. B 113, 075201– Published 2 February, 2026
  • Received 22 August 2025
  • Accepted 14 January 2026
Crossmark - Check for updates button
Creative Commons Logo

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by Bibsam.

Published by the American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation