Disorder accumulation and amorphization in $6H\text{−}\mathrm{Si}\mathrm{C}$ single crystals irradiated with $2.0\mathrm{MeV}$ ${\mathrm{Au}}^{2+}$ ions at temperatures ranging from $150\text{to}550\mathrm{K}$ have been investigated systematically based on $0.94\mathrm{MeV}$ $D^{+}$ channeling analyses along the ⟨0001⟩ axis. Physical models have been applied to fit the experimental data and to interpret the temperature dependence of the disordering processes. Results show that defect-stimulated amorphization in ${\mathrm{Au}}^{2+}$-irradiated $6H\text{−}\mathrm{Si}\mathrm{C}$ dominates the disordering processes at temperatures below $500\mathrm{K}$, while formation of clusters becomes predominant above $500\mathrm{K}$. Two distinctive dynamic recovery stages are observed over the temperature range from $150\text{to}550\mathrm{K}$, resulting from the coupled processes of close-pair recombination and interstitial migration and annihilation on both sublattices. These two stages overlap very well with the previously observed thermal recovery stages. Based on the model fits, the critical temperature for amorphization in $6H\text{−}\mathrm{Si}\mathrm{C}$ under the ${\mathrm{Au}}^{2+}$ ion irradiation conditions corresponds to $501\pm 10\mathrm{K}$.

• Received 8 April 2004

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.70.165208