An extensive study to observe the effects of thermal annealing and ion fluences in the ion beam synthesis of $\beta $-SiC

A systematic study of the formation of $\beta $-SiC structures by low energy carbon ion (C$^{-})$ implantation into Si followed by high temperature thermal annealing will be presented. The effects of thermal annealing in the formation of $\beta $-SiC structures has been studied. It is observed that the thermal annealing of 1100\r{ }C for 1 hr is required to observe the formation of $\beta $-SiC. The quantitative analysis in the formation of $\beta $-SiC nanostructures has been performed by the implantation of various carbon ion fluences in the range of 1$\times $10$^{17}$ - 8$\times $10$^{17}$ atoms /cm$^{2}$ at an ion energy of 65 keV into Si. It is observed that the average size of $\beta $-SiC crystals decreases whereas the amount of $\beta $-SiC increases monotonically with ion fluence up to a fluence of 5 $\times $ 10$^{17}$ atoms/cm$^{2}$ and appears to saturate for a higher fluence of 8 $\times $ 10$^{17}$ atoms/cm $^{2}$ when the samples were annealed at 1100\r{ }C for 1 hr. The stability of graphitic C-C bonds at 1100\r{ }C limits the growth of SiC precipitates in the sample implanted at a fluence of 8$\times $10$^{17}$ atoms /cm$^{2}$ which results in the saturation behavior of SiC formation in the present study as predicted by various characterization techniques such as FTIR, Raman, XRD, XPS and Transmission electron microscopy.