Substitutional solid solubility limits during solid phase epitaxy of ion implanted (100) silicon

High resolution channeling techniques have been used to investigate the maximum nonequilibrium solid solubility which can be achieved during low-temperature (≤600°C) epitaxial regrowth of high-dose antimony and indium implanted (100) silicon. The substitutional impurity concentration is observed to increase with implant dose and saturate at a limiting concentration well above the maximum equilibrium solid solubility for antimony or indium in silicon. Observed correlations between the measured solubility limits, epitaxial regrowth rates, and intriguing impurity redistribution effects suggest that impurity size and attendant lattice strain at the crystal-amorphous interface may determine the substitutional solubility limit for low-temperature annealing, where impurity diffusion lengths are negligible during the time of epitaxial recrystallization.