Direct measurement of solid-phase epitaxial growth kinetics in GaAs by time-resolved reflectivity

Complete solid-phase epitaxial regrowth of ion-implanted layers in GaAs has been obtained in the temperature range 150–400 °C. Implantation of tellurium at an energy and dose slightly greater than the amorphization threshold was used to produce an amorphous layer in the near-surface region of the GaAs samples. Complete crystallization was achieved over the entire temperature range using a resistively heated sample holder and cw laser irradiation. In situ time-resolved optical reflectivity measurements were used to observe and measure the epitaxial growth rate of the process. It has been found that the solid-phase epitaxy process follows an activation law whose activation energy is 1.6 eV.