Irradiation effects and thermal annealing behavior in H-2(+)-implanted 6H-SiC

RBS/channeling (RBS/C) has been used to study the accumulation and isochron al recovery of disorder on the Si sublattice in 6H-SiC single crystals irra diated with 100 keV H-2(+) ions at 100 and 300 K. The disorder at the damag e peak shows a sigmoidal dependence on ion fluence for both irradiation tem peratures. Dramatic simultaneous recovery is observed for the irradiation a t 300 K. At fluences below 1.5 x 10(16) H+ cm(-2), isochronal recovery occu rs gradually over a wide temperature range. Above a fluence of 1.5 x 10(17) H+ cm(2), a near amorphous state is produced, and significant recovery doe s not occur. At intermediate fluences between 4.5 x 10(16) and 1.0 x 10(17) H+ cm(-2), damage recovery occurs more rapidly between 300 and 670 K. Furt her annealing at 1070 K results in the formation of blisters. Hydrogen dept h profiles at 100 and 300 K; are comparable and are well predicted by SRIM- 97 simulations. Hydrogen release of about 30% is observed for silicon carbi de (SiC) irradiated at 100 K and subsequently annealed at 1070 It for 20 mi n. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.