Atomic-level simulations were used to study the defects and nanoscale disordering induced in 3C-SiC by C, Si and Au ions with energies of up to 50keV. Energetic C and Si ions primarily produced interstitials, vacancies, antisite defects and small defect clusters directly in collision cascades. The overlap of Si cascades produces nanoscale defect clusters. In the case of energetic Au ions, nanoscale amorphous domains were produced directly within the Au cascades along with point defects and smaller clusters. In about 25% of the Au cascades, one or more sub-cascades contain nanoscale clusters that exhibit a structure that was consistent with an amorphous state. Structural image simulations of the sub-cascade structures produced by energetic Si and Au recoils were consistent with experimental high-resolution transmission electron microscopy images. Simulations of close-pair production and recombination in SiC indicated that the activation energies for recombination of most close pairs range from 0.24 to 0.38eV.

Ion-Beam Induced Defects and Nanoscale Amorphous Clusters in Silicon Carbide. W.J.Weber, F.Gao, R.Devanathan, W.Jiang, C.M.Wang: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B, 2004, 216[1], 25-35