Solute Segregation and Dynamics of Solid-Phase Crystallization in In and Sb-Implanted Silicon

Abstract

Time-resolved-reflectivity measurements have been combined with transmission electron microscopy (cross-section and plan-view), Rutherford backscattering and ion channeling techniques to study the details of laser induced solid phase epitaxial growth in In⁺ and Sb⁺ implanted silicon in the temperature range from 725 to 1500 °K. The details of microstructures including the formation of polycrystals, precipitates, and dislocations have been correlated with the dynamics of crystallization. There were limits to the dopant concentrations which could be incorporated into substitutional lattice sites; these concentrations exceeded retrograde solubility limits by factors up to 70 in the case of the Si-In system. The coarsening of dislocation loops and the formation of a/2<110>, 90° dislocations in the underlying dislocation-loop bands are described as a function of laser power.