The loss kinetics of substitutional carbon in Si1-xCx regrown by solid phase epitaxy

Abstract

Epitaxial layers of Si1-xCx (x = 0.016) were synthesized using ion implantation and solid phase epitaxy (SPE), and the loss kinetics of substitutional carbon was investigated. As annealing temperature and time increase, more carbon atoms were found to diffuse from substitutional to interstitial sites. The activation energy for the loss of substitutional carbon into interstitial sites was obtained over the temperature range, 700-1040 degreesC, using both high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HR-XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Both methods yielded similar activation energies (similar to3 eV) for the loss kinetics. In addition, SPE layers regrown by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) were shown to have better crystalline quality than those regrown by furnace annealing.