SOLID-PHASE EPITAXY OF IMPLANTED SILICON AT LIQUID-NITROGEN AND ROOM-TEMPERATURE INDUCED BY ELECTRON-IRRADIATION IN THE ELECTRON-MICROSCOPE

Electron-beam-induced solid-phase epitaxy (SPE) has been obtained on crosssections of implanted Si layers, by in situ irradiation in the electron microscope, with electrons of energies of 200, 250 and 300 keV, at both room and liquid-nitrogen temperature. The absence of a transition from SPE to layer-by-layer amorphization (which is observed during ion-beam irradiation on decreasing the temperature below a certain critical value) and the athermal nature of the electron-induced crystallization process below room temperature, indicate that, although elastic displacement is the basic mechanism of both processes, the models which describe ion-beam-induced epitaxy in the temperature range 200<T<400°C cannot be extrapolated to explain the results of electron irradiation below room temperature. © 1990 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.