Formation of cubic silicon carbide layers on silicon under the action of continuous and pulsed carbon ion beams

The structure and infrared absorption of cubic silicon carbide (β-SiC) layers produced by the continuous high-dose implantation of carbon ions (C⁺) into silicon (E=40 keV and D=5×10¹⁷ cm⁻²), followed by the processing of the implanted layers with a high-power nanosecond pulsed ion beam (C⁺, τ=50 ns, E=300 keV, and W=1.0–1.5 J/cm²), are investigated. Transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction data indicate the formation of a coarse-grained polycrystalline β-SiC layer with grain sizes of up to 100 nm. A characteristic feature of such a layer is the dendritic surface morphology, which is explained by crystallization from the melt supercooled well below the melting point of β-SiC.