Divacancy control of the balance between ion-beam-induced epitaxial cyrstallization and amorphization in silicon

The ion-bombardment-induced reversible movement of a planar amorphous/crystalline interface in silicon has been studied between 100 and 400 °C. The temperature dependence of the ion dose rate at which there is zero interface movement has an activation energy of 1.2 eV, the dissociation energy of divacancies. Scaling of this dose rate for different ion species exhibits a quadratic dependence on the density of displaced atoms in the collision cascade of individual ions, giving further evidence for divacancy control of the interface movement.