Irradiation effects in 6H-SiC induced by neutron and heavy ions: Raman spectroscopy and high-resolution XRD analysis

Irradiation effects of neutron and 3 MeV C+, Si+ in 6H-SiC were investigated by Raman spectroscopy and high-resolution XRD. The total disorder values of neutron irradiated SiC agree well with that of samples irradiated by ions at the same doses respectively. On the other hand, high-resolution XRD results shows that the lattice strain rate caused by neutron irradiation is 6.8%/dpa, while it is only 2.6%/dpa and 4.2%/dpa for Si+ and C+ irradiations respectively. Our results illustrate that the total disorder in neutron irradiated SiC can be accurately simulated by MeV Si+ or C+ irradiations at the same dose, but for the lattice strain and strain-related properties like surface hardness, the depth profile of irradiation damages induced by energetic ions must be considered. This research will contribute to a better understanding of the difference in irradiation effects between neutron and heavy ions.