Swift heavy ion beam stimulated epitaxial recrystallization of Si/SiO2 heterostructure

Abstract Ion beam induced epitaxial crystallization of Si/SiO2 heterostructure has attracted significant interest in device fabrication because of its low-temperature processing. In this report, we have used 200 keV Kr+ ions to amorphize the Si/SiO2 layer at room temperature and 100 MeV Ni7+ swift heavy ions to recrystallize at elevated substrate temperature range of 100–300 °C. The regrowth of amorphous layers and out-diffusion of Kr+ ions confirmed by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry channeling (RBS-C) measurement. The layer-by-layer growth of epitaxial recrystallization during high energetic ion irradiation is elucidated by the thermal spike-induced vacancy migration mechanism near the amorphous/crystalline (a/c) interface.