Ionization-induced annealing of pre-existing defects in silicon carbide.
A long-standing objective in materials research is to effectively heal fabrication defects or to remove pre-existing or environmentally induced damage in materials. Silicon carbide (SiC) is a fascinating wide-band gap semiconductor for high-temperature, high-power and high-frequency applications. Its high corrosion and radiation resistance makes it a key refractory/structural material with great potential for extremely harsh radiation environments. Here we show that the energy transferred to the electron system of SiC by energetic ions via inelastic ionization can effectively anneal pre-existing defects and restore the structural order. The threshold determined for this recovery process reveals that it can be activated by 750 and 850 keV Si and C self-ions, respectively. The results conveyed here can contribute to SiC-based device fabrication by providing a room-temperature approach to repair atomic lattice structures, and to SiC performance prediction as either a functional material for device applications or a structural material for high-radiation environments.
1] Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA [2] Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA.
Yanwen
Y
Zhang
Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
Ritesh
0000000236041467
R
Sachan
1] Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA [2] Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki FI-00014, Finland.
Olli H
OH
Pakarinen
Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
Matthew F
MF
Chisholm
1] Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA [2] School of Physics, Key Laboratory of Particle Physics and Particle Irradiation (MOE), Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China.
Peng
P
Liu
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA.
Haizhou
H
Xue
1] Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA [2] Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA.
William J
0000000290177365
WJ
Weber