Ion bombardment effect on Si homoepitaxial growth from ion molecular beams

The effect of ion bombardment in the energy range 0.5-5 keV on the process of Si film epitaxial growth on a silicon substrate has been studied. It was shown experimentally that single crystal films are formed at an accelerating potential of 2 keV if the degree of vapour current ionization is 0.1%. In this case the epitaxial temperature is two times lower. Spatial distributions of thermal energy being released during Si+ and Ar+ ion implantation according to ion energy and oxide layer thickness and the distribution of point defects have been obtained by computer simulation based on the Monte-Carlo method. SiO2 film destruction by ion bombardment has been considered. The density of growing centres has been calculated and it is in good agreement with the experimental value. The mechanism of the ion irradiation effect in the process of Si film epitaxial growth is discussed. (author)