TITLE:
Ab Initio Carrier Transport Dynamics and Defect Engineering in Doped 3C-SiC for Power Electronics
AUTHORS:
Winston Ndeda Agesa, Waswa Michael Nakitare, Munyole Stella, Stanley C. Tsimbasi
KEYWORDS:
Cubic Silicon Carbide (3C-SiC), Defect Engineering, Co-Doping, Effective Mass, Quantum ESPRESSO, BoltzTraP, Power Electronics
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Materials Physics and Chemistry,
Vol.16 No.8,
August
14,
2026
ABSTRACT: Cubic-Silicon Carbide (3C-SiC) is a premier alternative to Silicon in medium-voltage (600 - 1200 V) power applications due to its isotropic electron transport and reduced interface trap densities. Resolving the chronic high-resistance p-type transport bottleneck is critical to achieving high-fidelity 3C-SiC power electronics. This study investigates the impact of selected intrinsic and extrinsic point defects on the electronic structure and carrier transport dynamics of 3C-SiC using first-principles DFT calculations in Quantum ESPRESSO and BoltzTraP. Electronic band structures and projected density of states reveal a localized restructuring of the bands via orbital hybridization in the Nitrogen-Phosphorus (NCPSi) co-doping complex. This engineering strategy yields an ultra-light hole effective mass of
0.2282
m
0
, due to valence band sharpening, creating a high-mobility pathway capable of eliminating drift region resistance bottlenecks in p-channel unipolar and bipolar device architectures. Transport simulations identify phosphorus-at-silicon site (PSi) substitution as the optimal configuration for stable mobility in the 300 - 600 K temperature range. Furthermore, transport modeling identifies 1018 cm−3 carrier concentration as the optimal engineering threshold, ensuring thermal stability across the 350 - 500 K device operational window. These discoveries provide a robust computational design road-map for utilizing selective-defect engineering strategies to surpass current mobility ceilings in next generation 3C-SiC semiconductor applications in power electronics.