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

Electron-irradiation-induced nucleation and growth in amorphous LaPO4, ScPO4, and zircon

“…9. The work of Lulli et al 4,5 Corticelli et al, 6 and Lulli and Merli 9 involved the recrystallization of continuous amorphous layers; whereas, in the work of Jenčič et al 11 and Jenčič and Robertson, 12 the amorphous regions were in the form of isolated cascades. The correlation is excellent, showing that inelastic-energy-loss processes are important at electron energies lower than 200 keV.…”

“…[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] Most of the work on semiconductors has involved the epitaxial recrystallization of buried amorphous layers due to the potential importance of this process in the semiconductor industry, specifically in very large scale integration (VLSI) technology. [4][5][6][7][8][9] The crystallization of isolated amorphous regions in other semiconducting materials as a result of electron irradiation has also been well documented. [4][5][6][7][8][9] The crystallization of isolated amorphous regions in other semiconducting materials as a result of electron irradiation has also been well documented.…”

“…Crystallization by solid phase epitaxy (SPE) or nucleation and growth in an electron beam has been attributed to a wide range of mechanisms, including enhanced defect mobility as a result of elastic interactions, [4][5][6]8,9 ionization processes involving the breaking or rearrangement of unstable bonds, 11,12 and beam heating. 3,[15][16][17][18] Lulli et al 4 found that Si could not be induced to recrystallize epitaxially at beam energies lower than the displacement energy (E d ), suggesting an elastic-collision-driven recrystallization process.…”

Electron-beam induced synthesis of nanostructures: a review

“…38 On the other hand, observations advocating for an a-thermal crystallization process of thin films are more numerous. [38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49] The driving mechanisms behind the (re)crystallization processes in most cases can be subdivided in two categories depending on whether the energy of the main beam E 0 is large enough to overcome the displacement energy E d of the irradiated material. If the E d threshold can be reached, then, the crystallization is attributed to the creation/recombination of point defects and enhanced atomic mobility.…”

“…In principle, highly energetic electrons are necessary to drive the crystallization through these elastic processes. 40,41,47,48 If E d cannot be reached, then the crystallization mechanism relies on the breaking of "incorrectly" formed a-c interfacial bonds which then reconstitute in a crystalline configurations. 38,39,42,44,45,49 The E d threshold is lowered at defective sites so that the crystallization process can by driven by elastic energy transfer events.…”