Modulated optical reflectance measurements on amorphous silicon layers and detection of residual defects

Modulated optical reflectance measurements on amorphous silicon layers are presented and a simple theoretical model, which is in good agreement with the experiment, is proposed. Further, the correlation between defects remaining after recrystallization of the amorphous layers and the measured modulated optical reflectance is established. This measurement technique turns out to be useful for characterizing amorphous Si layers produced by ion implantation, for controlling the recrystallization of such layers, and for detecting residual defects.