Kelvin-probe surface voltage mapping, SVM, on epitaxial SiC, charged with corona into deep depletion, reveals SV defects manifested as spots with decreased surface voltage. For 150μm thick epi-layer, SV defects coincide with low carrier lifetime spots revealed by microwave detected photoconductance decay, μPCD. In the photoluminescence image, these defects are seen as triangular dark spots, described in literature as stacking-fault related triangular defects. For thin epi-layers (2.2μm), defects are visible only in SVM. In this case, high resolution SVM performed with Kelvin Force Microscopy identifies a triangular defect shape. Two mechanisms are proposed, accounting for SV defects. For high intensity defects exhibiting large magnitude fast decreasing voltage, the probable mechanism is defect related leakage; causing neutralization of corona surface ions. Low intensity defects can be explained considering deep level emission. The latter mechanism has been investigated using SV transient and spectral analysis analogous to isothermal DLTS and Laplace DLTS.
