Stress-controlled zero-field spin splitting in silicon carbide

We report the influence of static mechanical deformation on the zero-field splitting of silicon vacancies in silicon carbide at room temperature. We use AlN/6H-SiC heterostructures deformed by growth conditions and monitor the stress distribution as a function of distance from the heterointerface with spatially-resolved confocal Raman spectroscopy. The zero-field splitting of the V1/V3 and V2 centers in 6H-SiC, measured by optically-detected magnetic resonance, reveal significant changes at the heterointerface compared to the bulk value. This approach allows unambiguous determination of the spin-deformation interaction constant, which turns out to be 0.75 GHz for the V1/V3 centers and 0.5 GHz for the V2 centers. Provided piezoelectricity of AlN, our results offer a strategy to realize the on-demand fine tuning of spin transition energies in SiC by deformation.