Depth profiling by Raman spectroscopy of high-energy ion irradiated silicon carbide

Single crystals of 6H-SiC were irradiated at room temperature with 20 MeV carbon ions at fluences of 1.5 × 1015 and 6.0 × 1015 cm−2. Raman measurements were performed to study irradiation induced damage and the in-depth damage profile of SiC. A clear change of damage from the surface down to the stopping region of carbon ions as simulated by SRIM is exhibited. The affected area as detected by Raman is in good agreement with SRIM predictions while a little shallower dpa profile is observed. The partial disorder defined in the present work as a function of depth is demonstrated. A shift of the position of the TO peak towards lower wavenumbers with in-depth damage and then to higher wavenumbers beyond the most damaged region indicates that tensile strain due to defects has a backward V-curve distribution. The damaged layer is subjected to a compressive in-plane stress associated with the out-of-plane strain and the magnitude of this stress also has a backward V-curve depth profile. The evolution of line width of the TO peak with depth clearly shows the density of defects reaches the higher level at the most damaged region. The Raman spectroscopy scanning technique is proved to be a powerful tool for profiling of crystal damage induced by high-energy ion implantation.