Ion implantation induced surface expansion (swelling) of 6H-SiC was investigated through the measurement of the step height between implanted and unimplanted areas. The samples were irradiated at room temperature with 500 keVAl+ions in the dose range1.25×1014–3×1015 ions cm−2.Swelling was related to dose and the area density of ion-induced damage measured by Rutherford backscattering channeling technique. The observed trend is consistent with the hypothesis that the volume expansion of the ion damaged crystal is proportional to the area density of displaced atoms, plus an additional relaxation occurring at the onset of the crystalline to amorphous transition. ©1997 American Institute of Physics.