Ion irradiation induced nucleation and growth of nanoparticles in amorphous silicon carbide at elevated temperatures
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Limin Zhang; Liang Chen; Weilin Jiang; Tieshan Wang; Wensi Ai
- Source
- Journal of Nuclear Materials. 505:249-254
- Subject
- 010302 applied physics
Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Materials science
Analytical chemistry
Nucleation
02 engineering and technology
021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology
01 natural sciences
Grain size
law.invention
Amorphous solid
symbols.namesake
Nuclear Energy and Engineering
law
Transmission electron microscopy
0103 physical sciences
symbols
General Materials Science
Crystallite
Irradiation
Crystallization
0210 nano-technology
Raman spectroscopy
- Language
- ISSN
- 0022-3115
Ion irradiation induced crystallization in as-deposited amorphous SiC films is investigated using grazing-angle incidence x-ray diffraction (GIXRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Raman spectroscopy. Irradiation with 5 MeV Xe to fluence of 1.15 × 1016 Xe/cm2 at 700 K results in a homogenous distribution of 3C-SiC grains with an average crystallite size of ∼5.7 nm over the entire film thickness (∼1 μm). The nucleation and growth processes exhibit a weak dependence on dose in displacements per atom (dpa) in the range from ∼6 dpa at the film surface to ∼20 dpa at the SiC/Si interface. A transformation of homonuclear C-C bonds from sp3 to sp2 hybridization is observed in the irradiated films, which may be partly responsible for the observed grain size saturation. The results from this study may have a significant impact on applications of SiC as structural components of advanced nuclear energy systems.