Influence of a thin interfacial oxide layer on the ion beam assisted epitaxial crystallization of deposited Si

The epitaxial crystallization of chemical vapor deposited Si layers on 〈100〉 Si substrates with a thin interfacial oxide layer was induced by a 600 keV Kr beam in the temperature range 350–500 °C. During irradiation the single crystal-amorphous interface velocity was measured in situ by monitoring the reflectivity of He-Ne laser light. We show that a critical irradiation dose is needed before the interfacial oxide breaks down and epitaxial regrowth can take place. This critical dose depends exponentially on the reciprocal temperature with an activation energy of 0.44 eV.