Patent ID: 7675068

Claim:
A silicon carbide structure suitable for use as a substrate in manufacturing electronic devices, said silicon carbide structure comprising: a silicon carbide wafer having a first and second surface and having a predetermined conductivity type and a net dopant concentration; a region of implanted and annealed dopant atoms extending from said first surface into said silicon carbide wafer to a depth of between about 10 and 5000 Angstroms, said region of implanted and annealed dopant atoms having a higher carrier concentration than said net dopant concentration in the remainder of said silicon carbide wafer, wherein said region of implanted and annealed dopant atoms has a peak concentration of implanted dopant atoms of between about 1E19 and 5E21 cm −3 ; and a Group III nitride epitaxial layer on said first surface of said silicon carbide wafer, wherein said region of implanted and annealed dopant atoms is between the remainder of said silicon carbide wafer and said Group III nitride epitaxial layer.