The root mean square (rms) surface roughness extracted from atomic force microscopy is widely employed to complement the characterisation of ion implantation processes in 4H‐SiC. It is known that the protection of a carbon film eliminates or mitigates roughening of the SiC surface during postimplantation annealing. This study, based on a rich original data collection of Al+ ion implanted 4H‐SiC samples, allows for a quantitative description of the surface morphology as a function of the annealing temperature and time and of the Al implanted concentration. With increasing thermal budget, the evolution from flat, to blurred with ripples, granular, and finally jagged surface, results in a monotonous increase in the root mean square roughness. Additional information is given by the trends of the roughness exponent and of the correlation length, extracted from the height‐height correlation function, which account for the surface evolution below 1700°C and for the effect of the Al implanted concentration on the ripple size, respectively. A combination of low roughness parameter and high correlation length identify the transition from ripples to jagged morphology.

中文翻译：

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Al离子注入和C-cap退火后的4H-SiC表面形貌

从原子力显微镜中提取的均方根 (rms) 表面粗糙度被广泛用于补充 4H-SiC 中离子注入工艺的表征。众所周知，碳膜的保护消除或减轻了在植入后退火过程中 SiC 表面的粗糙化。这项研究基于对 Al+ 离子注入 4H-SiC 样品的丰富原始数据收集，可以定量描述作为退火温度和时间以及 Al 注入浓度的函数的表面形貌。随着热预算的增加，从平坦的演变到模糊的波纹、颗粒状，最后是锯齿状的表面，导致均方根粗糙度单调增加。附加信息由粗糙度指数和相关长度的趋势给出，从高度-高度相关函数中提取，分别解释了低于 1700°C 的表面演化和 Al 注入浓度对波纹尺寸的影响。低粗糙度参数和高相关长度的组合确定了从波纹到锯齿状形态的过渡。