Novel low‐temperature recrystallization of amorphous silicon by high‐energy ion beam

An entirely new beam annealing method that employs a high‐energy (∼2.5 MeV) heavy ion (As75, Kr84) beam is presented. With this technology, an amorphous Si layer is recrystallized at below ∼300 °C substrate temperature (much lower than the ordinary solid phase epitaxial growth temperature of ∼600 °C). The temperature just under the beam spot is estimated to be at most ∼20° C higher than that in the surrounding region, because of the large beam spot size (∼10 mmφ) and rapid scan speed (∼104 cm/s). This low‐temperature annealing feature is quite different from the case for conventional furnace, laser, electron, and low‐energy ion beam annealing. After recrystallization, impurity As atoms are located at substitutional sites with no tetrahedral interstitial components, and are scarcely redistributed.