Solute trapping by moving interface in ion-implanted silicon

Experiments are reported for Te and Ag implantation in silicon, as examples of slow and fast diffusers, after furnace or laser annealing. Slow diffusers are substitutionally located at concentrations in great excess of the maximum solid solubility after both processes. Fast diffusers inhibit the solid-phase epitaxial regrowth or are rejected at the sample surface after laser irradiation. Although the epitaxial growth occurs with velocities which differ up to ten orders of magnitude after furnace or laser annealing, the supersaturation is interpreted as due to the same basic mechanism: solute trapping at the moving interface when the residence time is larger than the one monolayer regrowth time. This process is controlled by the diffusion coefficient in the two adjacent phases.