Volume and dislocation diffusion of iron, chromium and cobalt in CVD β-SiC

Impurity tracer diffusion of ⁵⁹Fe, ⁵¹Cr and ⁵⁷Co in CVD β-SiC has been studied in the temperature range between 973 and 1873 K. The temperature dependence of the volume diffusion coefficients of iron and chromium can be expressed by linear Arrhenius equations. The preexponential factor and the activation energy are estimated to be 8.7 × 10^-15 m² s^-1 and 111 kJ mol^-1 for iron, respectively, and 9.5 × 10^-15 m² s^-1 and 81 kJ mol^-1 for chromium, respectively. The diffusion coefficients of iron and chromium are much higher than those of the self-diffusion in β-SiC. Furthermore, the activation energies for the diffusion of iron and chromium are about one-tenth of those for carbon and silicon in β-SiC. Therefore, it seems that an interstitial mechanism is predominant for the diffusion of iron and chromium in β-SiC. On the other hand, the diffusion coefficient of cobalt above 1673 K is higher than that of iron, while at lower temperatures it is much lower than that of iron. The difference in the diffusion coefficients at 1173 K is more than three orders of magnitude. Thus, the temperature dependence of the diffusion coefficients of cobalt shows a strongly curved Arrhenius relation. This suggests that cobalt atoms diffuse by an interstitial mechanism at higher temperatures and by a substitutional mechanism at lower temperatures. From the deeper regions of the penetration profiles of iron, chromium and cobalt the dislocation diffusion coefficients of them have been estimated.