Experimental and ab initio study of enhanced resistance to amorphization of nanocrystalline silicon carbide under electron irradiation

The crystalline-to-amorphous transition in nanocrystalline silicon carbide (ncSiC) has been studied using 1.25 MeV electron irradiation. When compared to literature values for single crystal silicon carbide under electron irradiation, an increase in the dose to amorphization (DTA) was observed, indicative of an increase in radiation resistance. Factors that contribute to this improvement are grain refinement, grain texture, and a high density of stacking faults (SFs) in this sample of ncSiC. To test the effect of SFs on the DTA, density functional theory simulations were conducted. It was found that SFs reduced the energy barriers for both Si interstitial migration and the rate-limiting defect recovery reaction, which may explain the increased DTA.