Strain profiles and defect structure in 6H–SiC crystals implanted with 2 MeV As+ ions

Highly perfect (00.1) oriented 6H–SiC wafers were implanted with 2 MeV As+ ions to a number of fluencies in the range from 5 × 1012 cm−2 to 1 × 1014 cm−2 and examined with synchrotron X-ray diffraction methods and RBS/channeling method. The X-ray methods included the investigation of rocking curves recorded with a small 50 × 50 μm2 probe beam and white beam Bragg-Case section and projection topography.The implanted layers provided distinct interference maxima in the rocking curves and interference fringes in Bragg-Case section topographies (strain modulation fringes). A good visibility of interference maxima enabled effective evaluation of the strain profile by fitting the theoretical rocking curves to the experimental ones. The evaluated strain profiles approximated by browsed Gaussian curves were similar to the distribution of point defects calculated with SRIM 2008 code. The profiles were similar to the defect distribution determined from the channeling measurements.