PNNL

Abstract

The irradiation-induced amorphization in single crystal 6H-SiC has been previously studied as a function of irradiation temperature for electrons and ions ranging from Ne to Au. Analysis of these data in terms of a dynamic model for amorphization reveals that the amorphization dose increases and critical amorphization temperature decreases as the ratio of in-cascade ionization to displacement rates increases. Model fits to the data yield values for the ratio of radiation-induced cross section to damage cross section and an activation energy of 0.12 ± 0.01 eV for irradiation-induced recovery. The critical temperature exhibits a linear dependence on the ln(cross-section ratio), consistent with the model. The results also indicate that damage rate effects associated with thermal recovery may play a role near the critical temperature.