Behavior of Basal Plane Dislocations and Low Angle Grain Boundary Formation in Hexagonal Silicon Carbide

The interactions between basal plane dislocations (BPDs) and threading screw and edge dislocations (TSDs and TEDs) in hexagonal SiC have been studied using synchrotron white beam x-ray topography (SWBXT). TSDs are shown to strongly interact with advancing basal plane dislocations (BPDs) while TEDs do not. A BPD can cut through an individual TED without the formation of jogs or kinks. The BPDs were observed to be pinned by TSDs creating trailing dislocation dipoles. If these dipoles are in screw orientation segments can cross-slip and annihilate also potentially leaving isolated trailing loops. The three-dimensional (3D) distribution of BPDs can lead to aggregation of opposite sign edge segments leading to the creation of low angle grain boundaries (LAGBs) characterized by pure basal plane tilt of magnitude determined by the net difference in densities of the opposite sign dislocations. Similar aggregation can also occur against pre-existing prismatic tilt boundaries made up of TED walls with the net difference in densities of the opposite sign dislocations contributing some basal plane tilt character to the LAGB.