Irradiation effects induced in silicon carbide by low and high energy ions

Silicon carbide exhibits different behaviours in response to ion beam irradiation depending on the ion energy. At room temperature, this material is well known to be easily amorphized by low energy (i.e. a few hundred keV) ions. On the other hand, recent studies revealed that high energy (i.e. several hundred MeV) ions do not produce damage in crystalline silicon carbide. More interestingly, they instead induce at room temperature an epitaxial recrystallization in pre-damaged material by low energy ion irradiation. These swift heavy ion induced effects can both be interpreted in term of the thermal spike model where it is demonstrated that the amorphous phase does effectively attain the liquid state in contrast to the case of the crystalline structure. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.