Avalanche effects in solid-phase epitaxial crystallization induced by light-ion irradiation

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Solid-phase epitaxial crystallization of amorphous Si layers on a crystalline Si substrate during B-ion irradiation is investigated over the temperature range 293 - 573 K. Regrowth occurs at all measured temperatures, with activation energy 0.07 eV and prefactor 2.36 nm / 10¹4 B cm-2 The low activation energy suggests that free interstitial point defects are involved and the unusually large prefactor indicates that each interstitial crystallizes about 50 host Si atoms. We propose that interstitial annihilation at the a/c interface sets off a shock-like process that drives c-Si island nucleation and growth until terminated by misfit strain.