Ion beam irradiation of relaxed amorphous silicon carbide

In-situ transmittance measurements at lambda=633 nm are used during ion irr adiation to probe the defect generation in relaxed amorphous silicon carbid e (SiC). The optical constants of amorphous SiC are strongly correlated to the thermal history of the material and the transmittance of ion implanted amorphous SiC (unrelaxed amorphous) increases after annealing in the temper ature range 100-700 degrees C. The transmittance of annealed amorphous SIC (relaxed) during subsequent implantation decreases and saturates to the val ue of unrelaxed amorphous. In-situ transmittance measurements allow to foll ow directly the defect generation and to measure the fluence at which the t ransmittance saturates (derelaxation fluence). The effect of different ions (He and Ar) on these phenomena is explored. The obtained results are compa red and discussed with similar measurements performed on amorphous silicon. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.