Experimental and computational approaches were used to study the defects, defect clusters and long-range structural disorder produced by the interaction of energetic ions with SiC. The accumulation and recovery of disorder on the Si and C sub-lattices were determined by ion-beam analysis methods in channeling geometry. Ab initio calculations had determined the most stable interstitial configurations which were consistent with multi-axial channelling measurements. Molecular dynamics methods were used to study both the energy dependence of defect production and the dynamic processes of cascade overlap. The experimental measurements of damage accumulation and the results of molecular dynamics were mutually consistent. Thus, the integration of experimental and computational studies provided an atomic-scale understanding of irradiation-induced defects and disordering processes in SiC.

Ion–Solid Interactions and Defects in Silicon Carbide. W.J.Weber, W.Jiang, F.Gao, R.Devanathan: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B, 2002, 190[1-4], 261-5