Samples of 3c-SiC and diamond were subjected to  in situ  irradiation in a 2MV electron microscope at temperatures of up to 1773K. The induced secondary defects were examined by means of conventional and high-resolution electron microscopy. In both materials, defects with a size of several nm formed uniformly (at a density of 1017/cm3) in the irradiated area; in place of amorphization. It was shown that the interaction of irradiation-induced vacancy-interstitial pairs caused the secondary defect formation which was characteristic of 3c-SiC and diamond crystals. It was suggested that the intrinsic irradiation effect was difficult to identify in experiments on SiC because of the difficulty of obtaining high-quality material.

R.Oshima, C.Y.Nie, M.Komatsu, H.Mori: Materials Science Forum, 1995, 196-201, 1237-42