Size distribution of black spot defects and their contribution to swelling in irradiated SiC

Experimental and modeling efforts were combined to investigate the role of black spot defects (BSD) in swelling of carbon- and krypton-irradiated 4H-SiC. Samples were exposed to conditions favoring BSD formation: irradiation at temperatures 600–950 °C and damage levels of 0.4–0.8 dpa. The maximum XRD swelling values, corrected for the effect of the rigid substrate, of 0.58% for C and 0.75% for Kr-irradiation were measured at the lowest irradiation temperature of 600  °C and decreased with increasing temperature. The swelling values estimated from TEM are on the same order of magnitude, but usually 40–70% lower than those measured by XRD. The contribution of BSDs to the overall swelling is 62% and the remainder of the swelling is caused by isolated point defects. The obtained results contribute to understanding of what defect types account for swelling and how their concentration evolves with the irradiation temperature and damage level. - Highlights: • We investigated the role of black spot defects (BSD) in swelling of ion-irradiated 4H-SiC. • Swelling by XRD is corrected for the effect of the rigid substrate. • BSDs contributes 62% to the overall swelling and the remainder is caused by isolated point defects. • Swelling from TEM is lower by 40% to 70% than the XRD values.