A specific study was made of the evolution of point defects induced by electron irradiation in the cubic polytype of SiC (3C-SiC) at 10 to 1450K by means of photoluminescence spectroscopy. A first annealing stage between 200 and 245K was identified which probably resulted from the migration of interstitials in the carbon sub-lattice. Moreover, the high thermal stability of defect-related photoluminescence signals up to about 1100K was confirmed and the activation energies associated with their annihilation were calculated. Finally, a study was made of the effect of treatment at 1400K upon the DI center photoluminescence intensity in a single-crystal sample irradiated with electrons below the threshold displacement energy of the silicon sub-lattice. This permitted checking the relevance of recent defect models based upon the migration of atoms in the carbon sub-lattice during the irradiation process. It was concluded that the DI center did not involve the silicon vacancy and could be attributed to an isolated silicon antisite SiC.

Thermal Stability of Irradiation-Induced Point Defects in Cubic Silicon Carbide. J.Lefèvre, J.M.Costantini, S.Esnouf, G.Petite: Journal of Applied Physics, 2009, 106[8], 083509