ION-IMPLANTATION INDUCED SWELLING IN 6H-SIC

Ion implantation induced surface expansion (swelling) of 6H-SiC was in vestigated through the measurement of the step height between implante d and unimplanted areas. The samples were irradiated at room temperatu re with 500 keV Al+ ions in the dose range 1.25 x 10(14)-3 x 10(15) io ns cm(-2), Swelling was related to dose and the area density of ion-in duced damage measured by Rutherford backscattering channeling techniqu e. The observed trend is consistent with the hypothesis that the volum e expansion of the ion damaged crystal is proportional to the area den sity of displaced atoms, plus an additional relaxation occurring at th e onset of the crystalline to amorphous transition. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.