The loss kinetics of substitutional carbon in Si1-xCx regrown by solid phase epitaxy

Epitaxial layers of Si1-xCx (x = 0.016) were synthesized using ion implanta tion and solid phase epitaxy (SPE), and the loss kinetics of substitutional carbon was investigated. As annealing temperature and time increase, more carbon atoms were found to diffuse from substitutional to interstitial site s. The activation energy for the loss of substitutional carbon into interst itial sites was obtained over the temperature range, 700-1040 degreesC, usi ng both high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HR-XRD) and Fourier transform in frared spectroscopy (FTIR). Both methods yielded similar activation energie s (similar to3 eV) for the loss kinetics. In addition, SPE layers regrown b y rapid thermal annealing (RTA) were shown to have better crystalline quali ty than those regrown by furnace annealing.