Solid phase epitaxy of relaxed, implantation-amorphized Si1−xGex alloy layers grown on compositionally graded buffers

Solid phase epitaxial regrowth of implantation-amorphized, relaxed Si0.75Ge0.25 alloy layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy on compositionally graded buffer layers was investigated with ion channeling techniques. The amorphization was done by Ge implantation. The regrowth velocity follows an Arrhenius curve in the investigated temperature range, 471≤T≤506 °C, with an activation energy, Ea=2.76±0.15 eV, equal to published values for Si. The regrowth velocity, however, is enhanced by almost a factor of 5 in this temperature range as compared to Si.