Contribution of iron silicide nanoparticles to the magnetic behavior of annealed Fe-implanted 6H-SiC

Abstract : The Fe-implanted SiC is an interesting system in the DMS field although ion implantation induces strong microstructural defects needing post-implantation treatments for recovery. These post-implantation treatments often induce the formation of parasitic magnetic secondary phases. In this work, using XRD, SEM, TEM, CEMS and SQUID it is shown that post-annealing of Fe-implanted 6H-SiC at 380°C with a few 1016Fe+ ions/cm2 at 900°C/60min, 1000°C/85min and 1300°C/4min enhanced the ferromagnetic ordering which can be partially explained by the formation of iron rich superparamagnetic nanoparticles. (© 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)