Effect of carbon-vacancy on microwave heating characteristics of 3C-SIC

Abstract

Understanding the thermal response of materials with defects under microwave irradiation is critical for various applications, including electronics, materials science, and energy conversion. This study investigates microwave energy interaction with carbon defect-induced 3C-SiC by employing non-equilibrium molecular dynamics to gain insights into the molecular level heating of 3C-SiC in the presence of carbon defects. Simulation studies were conducted to explore the effects of microwave irradiation at varying electric field strengths and frequencies. The results demonstrated that introducing C-vacancies within the 3C-SiC system significantly improved microwave absorption, enabling the material to reach the melting point more rapidly than pure 3C-SiC. Moreover, this simulation study revealed that C-vacancies facilitated higher atomic diffusivity within the system. At 2.0% C-vacancy concentration, the 3C-SiC system exhibits 492, 260, and 77.8% higher diffusivity than 0.5, 1.5, and 1.5% C-vacancy concentration, respectively, at an electric field strength of 0.5 V/Å and frequency of 300 GHz. Pair correlation function study revealed a reduction in crystallinity by approximately 60 for 0.5% C-vacancy concentration during microwave irradiation. Pair correlation function analysis further confirmed that the accelerated solid-to-liquid phase transition occurred with increasing C-vacancy concentration and microwave exposure time.