Laser annealing of silicon layers amorphized by molecular ions

The behaviour, after laser beam annealing, of heavily doped silicon layers obtained by a high current density atomic and molecular ion bombardment is investigated. The ion beam is realized by glow discharge of a gas containing the dopant, acceleration towards the sample, without any magnet.

The annealing is performed by using a high power (3.5 J/cm²) pulsed laser and the surfaces are studied by Rutherford backscattering, secondary ions mass spectroscopy and conductivity measurements. Comparison with a classical thermal annealing shows the advantage of the laser pulse to restore completely the original cristallinity, even if the layer is im-planted at doses in excess the solubility limit of the dopant, leading to a full surface amorphization.