Melting Phenomena and Impurity Redistribution During Pulsed Laser Irradiation of Amorphous Silicon Layers
ABSTRACTwe have investigated microstructural changes and phase transformations in 30Si+, 75As+, 63Cu+, and 115In+ implanted amorphous silicon layers as a function of pulse energy density. Cross-section electron microscopy studies have revealed the formation of two distinct regions, large and fine polycrystalline regions below the threshold for “defect-free” annealing. The fine polycrystalline region is formed primarily by explosive recrystallization, and occasionally by bulk nucleation and growth. The impurity redistribution in the large and fine polycrystalline regions were determined by Rutherford backscatterinq measurements. Large redistributions of impurities in the large poly region are consistent with velocity of solidifications of 3–5 ms−1. The nature of impurity redistributions in the fine poly region as a function of distribution coefficient provides information on the details of liquid phase crystallization phenomena.