Damage and its rapid thermal annealing behavior of 1 MeV Ar(+)-ion-implanted silicon

The formation of the buried amorphous layer and its annealing behavior during rapid thermal annealing in 1 MeV Ar(+)-implanted (100) silicon at a dose of 1 x 10(exp 15) cm(exp -2) have been investigated by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy, Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy and the thermal-wave-modulated optical reflectance technique. The buried amorphous layer is completely recovered, but forms a closure dislocation at 675 deg C. The regrowth rate of solid phase epitaxy from the upper (closer to the surface) amorphous/crystalline (a/c) interface is found to be higher than that from the lower (in the bulk) a/c interface. Closure dislocations coalesce into V-shaped dislocations which are observed mainly in the upper regrown region and evolve into extended defects such as the dislocation loops and lines at higher temperature. However, they persist with the end-of-range dislocations even at the temperature of 1100 deg C.