Epitaxial Crystallization of Amorphous Silicon Layers under Ion Irradiation: Orientation Dependence

Abstract

ABSTRACTIon-beam induced epitaxial crystallization of thin amorphous silicon layers at {100} and {110} crystalline/amorphous interfaces exhibits no orientation dependencies, whereas at a {111} crystalline/amorphous interface a weak orientation dependency relative to thermal-induced epitaxial crystallization is observed. This behavior supports an interpretation in which the thermal crystallization process is dominated by the need to form interfacial defects and/or growth sites and in the ion-beam experiment this formation process ocurrs athermally. It is thought that the observed orientation dependent regrowth on a {111} substrate relative to a {100} (or {110}) substrate is associated with the special correlated atomic sequencing which is believed to control solid-phase epitaxial crystallization at a {111) crystalline/amorphous interface.