Results of the comprehensive study of deuterium-implanted hexagonal SiC (4H and 6H) using optical absorption and infrared measurements, elastic recoil detection analysis, thermal desorption and positron annihilation spectroscopies are reported. It is shown that implanted deuterium mainly forms bonds with lattice atoms. The amount of deuterium in the form of interstitial molecules and in vacancies is considerably smaller. Ion implantations with fluences exceeding 1015 D+/cm−2 create point defects in concentrations sufficiently high for complete positron trapping. Recrystallisation of the amorphised SiC does not remove the positron traps.

Nitrogen was introduced in an iron layer underneath a top layer of nickel. This was done by ion implantation of N into the Ni layer at a temperature of 200 °C. During implantation and subsequent anneals at 250 and 300 °C, N diffuses from the Ni layer into the Fe layer because of a larger affinity of Fe for N than of Ni for N. The concentration depth profiles of N in the Ni/Fe bilayers, as recorded with the nuclear reaction analysis technique, show at the highest implantation dose a peak below the Ni/Fe interface. From structural analysis techniques (x-ray diffraction and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy) it was observed that this peak is due to the presence of an ε–Fe3−xN layer below the Ni/Fe interface. It is thus shown that ε –nitride can be formed in Fe at such low temperatures in the absence of radiation damage.