Deuteron implantation into hexagonal silicon carbide: defects and deuterium behaviour

Results of the comprehensive study of deuterium-implanted hexagonal SiC (4H and 6H) using optical absorption and infrared measurements, elastic recoil detection analysis, thermal desorption and positron annihilation spectroscopies are reported. It is shown that implanted deuterium mainly forms bonds with lattice atoms. The amount of deuterium in the form of interstitial molecules and in vacancies is considerably smaller. Ion implantations with fluences exceeding 1015 D+/cm-2 create point defects in concentrations sufficiently high for complete positron trapping. Re-crystallisation of the amorphized SiC does not remove the positron traps. (authors)