2016/07/08 by Hao Jiang, Li He, Dane Morgan +2 · 10 citations
Chemistry · Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Annealing (glass) #Atomic physics #Chemical physics #Chemistry #Cluster (spacecraft) #Covalent bond #Electron #Ga2O3 and related materials #Ion-surface interactions and analysis #Irradiation #Materials science #Molecular physics #Nanotechnology #Nuclear physics #Optics #Optoelectronics #Physics #Radiation #Radiation damage #Semiconductor #Semiconductor materials and devices #Transmission electron microscopy #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.94.024107
published in Physical review. B./Physical review. B 94(2) (American Physical Society)
openalex publication_date 2016/07/08 · openalex created_date 2016/07/22 · arxiv created 2016/08/02 · arxiv updated 2016/08/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Although defect clusters are detrimental to the electronic and mechanical properties of semiconductor materials, annihilation of such clusters is limited by their lack of thermal mobility due to high migration barriers. Here, we find that small clusters in bulk SiC (a covalent material of importance for both electronic and nuclear applications) can become mobile at room temperature under the influence of electron radiation. So far, direct observation of radiation-induced diffusion of defect clusters in bulk materials has not yet been demonstrated. This finding was made possible by low-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy combined with a nonrigid registration technique to remove sample instability, which enables atomic resolution imaging of small migrating defect clusters. We show that the underlying mechanism of this athermal diffusion is a ballistic collision between incoming electrons and cluster atoms. Our findings suggest that defect clusters may be mobile under certain irradiation conditions, changing the current understanding of the cluster annealing process in irradiated covalent materials.