Investigation of the damage behavior in SiC without any additives irradiated with Si ions by GIXRD, Raman and TEM

Abstract

The SPS-prepared SiC without any additives was irradiated with 15.9 MeV Si ions at room temperature and 500 °C. The damage behavior was investigated by grazing incident X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). GIXRD and Raman spectra show that the disorder of SiC increases and the lattice swelling occurs with the increase of irradiation at room temperature. High temperature irradiation was associated with the reduction of swelling and the recovery of disorder. TEM results indicate that at room temperature, with increasing dose, the material transitions from slight amorphization to complete amorphization. The amorphization dose is estimated to be around 1.2 dpa. The combined effects of stacking faults, high-energy ions accompanied by higher electronic energy loss inducing displacement cascades, and cascade-induced annealing delay damage accumulation, leading to an increased critical dose for amorphization. Moreover, the transient thermal spikes due to higher electronic energy loss, leading to defect annealing and the formation of Frank loops at lower irradiation temperatures.