In-situ transmission electron microscopy of partial-dislocation glide in 4H-SiC under electron radiation

Electron-radiation-enhanced glide of 30 degrees-Si(g) partial dislocations bringing about an expansion/shrinkage of Shockley-type stacking faults in 4H-SiC was observed in-situ by transmission electron microscopy. Geometrical kinks on 30 degrees-Si(g) partials did not migrate in the dark, indicating that the kink migration is enhanced by electron irradiation. The direction of the enhanced glide was reversible depending on the irradiation intensity, which can be interpreted in terms of a sign reversal of the driving force originating in the effective stacking fault energy variable with the irradiation intensity. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4737938]