Solid phase epitaxial regrowth of amorphous silicon is not affected by structural relaxation

A piece of amorphous silicon made by self-ion implantation was structurally relaxed by thermal annealing at 650 degrees C; subsequently, half of the sample was re-implanted to bring it back to a non-relaxed state. The sample was next submitted to a series of low-temperature anneals (425-435 degrees C) in order to induce solid phase epitaxial crystallization and the growth rate was measured on both halves of the sample. No difference was found within an uncertainty of +/- 3%, which would imply that the activation energy for solid phase epitaxial regrowth remains constant to within 2 meV under structural relaxation.