Annealing of ion implanted 4H-SiC in the temperature range of 100-800 degrees C analysed by ion beam techniques

Ion implantation induced damage formation and subsequent annealing in 4H-SiC in the temperature range of 100-800 degrees C has been investigated. Silicon Carbide was implanted at room temperature with 200 key Ar-40 ions with two implantation fluences of 4 x 10(14) and 2 x 10(15) ions/cm(2). The samples were characterized by Rutherford backscattering and nuclear reaction analysis techniques in channeling mode using 2.00 and 4.30 MeV He-4 ion beams for damage buildup and recovery in the Si and C sublattices, respectively. At low ion fluence, the restoration of the Si sublattice is evident already at 200 degrees C and a considerable annealing step occurs between 300 and 400 degrees C. Similar results have been obtained for the C sublattice using the nuclear resonance reaction for carbon, C-12(alpha,alpha)C-12 at 4.26 MeV. For samples implanted with the higher ion fluence, no significant recovery is observed at these temperatures. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.