Recrystallization of He-ion implanted 6H-SiC upon annealing

•Solid phase epitaxial growth of amorphous 6H-SiC was investigated.•Recrystallization initially nucleates and grows at the interface between the amorphous layer and 6H-SiC substrate.•Recrystallization rate is related to the implantation-induced damage and concentration of He impurity.•The region of recrystallization contains 3C-SiC and 6H-SiC with different crystalline orientations.

Solid phase epitaxial growth of amorphous 6H-SiC created by 15 keV He ion implantation to doses of 1.5 × 1016, 5 × 1016 and 1 × 1017 cm−2 at room temperature (RT) followed by annealing ranging from 600 °C to 900 °C for 30 min was investigated. The recrystallization process was investigated via cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM). Recrystallization initially nucleates and grows at the interface between the amorphous layer and 6H-SiC substrate. In the middle of the amorphous layer, recrystallization nucleation is inhibited. Recrystallization rate is related to the implantation-induced damage and concentration of He impurity. The Fourier transformed images denote that the region of recrystallization contains 3C-SiC and 6H-SiC with different crystalline orientations. Besides, for the 1 × 1017 cm−2 implanted sample, partial areas are kept amorphous in the damaged layer. The threshold temperature of full recrystallization of He ion-implantation-induced amorphization in 6H-SiC and the previous observations on other ions implantation, such as Ne, Ar, Xe etc is compared. The possible reasons are discussed.