Regrowth of heavy-ion implantation damage by electron beams

✍ Scribed by I Jenčič; I.M Robertson

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 521 KB
• Volume: 3
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1369-8001
• DOI: 10.1016/s1369-8001(00)00049-4

✦ Synopsis

Electron transparent Si, Ge and GaP samples were implanted with 50 keV Xe + ions to a dose around 10 11 ions/cm 2 . At this implantation condition, each heavy ion created a small, spatially isolated amorphous zone. Following the ion implantation, the samples were irradiated with electrons having energies from 25 to 300 keV at temperatures 90 and 300 K. At each electron energy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images of a selected sample area were taken in regular time intervals to record the evolution of the implant damage. At all electron irradiation conditions it was observed that the amorphous zones shrunk with increasing electron dose and some of them eventually disappeared. The most interesting result is the observation that regrowth occurs below the displacement threshold and, moreover, regrowth rate increases when decreasing electron energy below $ 100, $ 125 and $ 200 keV, for Si, GaP and Ge, respectively. These results are discussed in terms of possible mechanisms stimulating regrowth.