Kinetics of solid phase epitaxy in thick amorphous Si layers formed by MeV ion implantation.

The kinetics of solid phase epitaxy (SPE) have been measured in MeV ion-implanted amorphous Si layers up to 5 μm thick. Epitaxial crystallization in these layers occurs at a constant rate throughout the entire film, without loss of interface planarity or competition from random nucleation or twin formation. The activation energy for SPE in thick layers is found to be 2.70 eV, in excellent agreement with the value determined previously in much thinner films. The SPE kinetics are shown not to depend on the implant dose for doses up to 1000 times the threshold for amorphization. The presence of water vapor in the annealing ambient during SPE results in the indiffusion of hydrogen and a concomitant reduction of the SPE growth rate at distances as great as 2 μm from the surface. This effect may have important implications for the development of a microscopic model of the SPE process in silicon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]