MD simulation of two-temperature model in ion irradiation of 3C-SiC: Effects of electronic and nuclear stopping coupling, ion energy and crystal orientation

Abstract We present a numerical study on swift ion induced effects in crystalline 3C silicon carbide (SiC) by the two-temperature model, which considering the electronic stopping and electronic-phonon coupling effects simultaneously. Given the results of overlapping radiation, there is only a minority of defects formed in the system during the ionization dominance stage. When the incident energy is braked from 20 MeV to 500 keV by ionization after the first 0.91 ps, the system enters the nuclear stopping stage, the incident energy decreases to 50 keV in 0.44 ps, accomplished with a dramatic increase of damage. In addition, for the low-energy ion implantation process, the sparse atomic arrangement perpendicular to the implantation direction will reduce the response of the atomic subsystem. Insights into the complex correlations between electronic and atomic response may pave the way to elucidate the mechanism behind the experimentally observed defect formation and evolution under extreme energy deposition.