Atomically resolved microscopy of ion implantation induced dislocation loops in 4H-SiC

Abstract

During high temperature electrical activation of ion-implanted dopant species in SiC, extrinsic dislocation loops are formed on the basal planes of the SiC lattice. Investigations have suggested Si-based loops are caused in accordance with the well-known +1 model. Herein we apply aberration corrected STEM to resolve the atomic structure of these loops. It is shown that the dislocation loops formed during annealing of Al-implanted SiC consist of an extra inserted Si-C bilayer of the (0001) polar sense, which upon insertion into the lattice causes a local extrinsic stacking fault. The +1 model thus needs to be expanded for binary systems.