Ion-assisted recrystallization of amorphous silicon

Abstract

Our recent work on ion-beam-assisted epitaxial growth of amorphous Si layers on single crystal substrates is reviewed. The planar motion of the crystal-amorphous interface was monitored in situ, during irradiations, by transient reflectivity measurements. This technique allows the measurement of the ion-induced growth rate with a very high precision. We have observed that this growth rate scales linearly with the number of displacements produced at the crystal-amorphous interface by the impinging ions. Moreover the regrowth onto 〈100〉 oriented substrates is a factor of ≈ 4 faster with respect to that on 〈111〉 substrates. Impurities dissolved in the amorphous layer influence the kinetics of recrystallization. For instance, dopants such as As, B and P enhance the ion-induced growth rate while oxygen has the opposite effect. The dependence of the rate on impurity concentration is however less strong with respect to pure thermal annealing. For instance, an oxygen concentration of 1 × 1021 / cm3 decreases the ion-induced growth rate by a factor of ≈ 3; this same concentration would have decreased the rate of pure thermal annealing by more than 4 orders of magnitude. The reduced effects of oxygen during ion-beam crystallization allow the regrowth of deposited Si layers despite the presence of a high interfacial oxygen content. The process is investigated in detail and its possible application to the microelectronic technology is discussed.