The influence of implanted impurities on the thermally-induced epitaxial recrystallization of CoSi₂

The influence of implanted impurities (B, O, P, Ar, Xe, Pb, and Bi) on the rate of low-temperature (138 °C), solid-phase epitaxial growth (SPEG) of amorphized CoSi₂ has been studied. SPEG rates of impurity-implanted CoSi₂, as determined from time-resolved reflectivity measurements, were retarded for all impurities compared to that of Si-implanted CoSi₂. The extent of retardation varied from a factor of 1.5 for P to 9.4 for Xe. Channeling measurements of impurity-implanted CoSi₂ indicated that Xe and Bi atoms were located on nonsubstitutional lattice sites while —40% of Pb atoms occupied either substitutional sites or vacant interstitial cation sites following annealing. The presence of impurities did not affect the CoSi₂ post-anneal crystalline quality, and no significant impurity diffusion was apparent at 138 °C from secondary-ion mass spectrometry measurements.