The orientation dependence of solid phase growth of the implantation-induced amorphous layer on (0 0 0 1)- and (1 (1) over bar 0 0)-oriented 6H-SiC has been investigated at annealing temperatures below 1000degreesC using transmission electron microscopy. The surface region of the sample is amorphized by the 100 keV-Ar* implantation at a dose rate of 2 x 10(15) cm(-2). The amorphous layer in the (1 (1) over bar 0 0)-oriented 6H-SiC is epitaxially regrown with a uniform regrowth rate (4.4 nm/min at 770degreesC). For the (0 0 0 1)-oriented 6H-SiC, the annealing of the amorphous layer leads to the regrowth of the micro-twinned 3C-SiC crystals with a regrowth rate of 0.019 nm/min at 770degreesC and an activation energy of 3.4 eV, followed by a faster regrowth of highly oriented 3C-SiC crystals. A change of the regrowth mechanism in the regrowth of the implantation-induced amorphous layer to 3C-SiC is suggested. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.