REGROWTH OF AMORPHOUS REGIONS IN SEMICONDUCTORS BY SUBTHRESHOLD ELECTRON-BEAMS

Spatially isolated amorphous zones produced in Si, Ge and GaP by low e nergy, low dose ion implantations can be regrown at room temperature b y using an electron beam to stimulate the process, The rate at which t hese zones regrow is dependent on the energy of the electron beam and on the size of the amorphous zone produced by the implant. In the thre e materials, the rate of regrowth decreases as the energy of the elect ron beam increases from 25 keV reaching a minimum below the threshold displacement energy. The rate then increases as the energy of the elec tron beam increases, Electron beam heating effects have been calculate d and shown to be insignificant. To account for these observations, th e possible role of defects in the amorphous and crystalline material m igrating to the amorphous-crystalline interface, and of defects at the amorphous-crystalline interface in causing regrowth are considered.