Solid-phase epitaxy of implanted silicon at liquid nitrogen and room temperature induced by electron irradiation in the electron microscope

Electron-beam-induced solid-phase epitaxy (SPE) has been obtained on cross-sections of implanted Si layers, by in situ irradiation in the electron microscope, with electrons of energies of 200, 250 and 300 keV, at both room and liquid-nitrogen temperature. The, absence of a transition from SPE to layer-by-layer amorphization (which is observed during ion-beam irradiation on decreasing the temperature below a certain critical value) and the athemal nature of the electron-induced crystallization process below room temperature, indicate that, although elastic displacement is the basic mechanism of both processes, the models which describe ion-beam-induced epitaxy in the temperature range 200≤T≤400°C cannot be extrapolated to explain the results of electron irradiation below room temperature.