Segregation and refinement of hydrogen at a moving amorphous/ crystalline interface within silicon

Full text: Segregation and refinement of hydrogen at a crystallising amorphous/crystalline interface in silicon is interesting for the possibility of producing silicon-on-insulator wafers for high performance microelectronic devices The possibility of refining hydrogen into a narrow band may facilitate delamination of the overlying crystalline layer similar to the SmartCutTM process. Hydrogen infiltration into amorphous silicon surface layers from the native oxide and refinement of the H during solid phase epitaxy has previously been investigated by Olson and Roth. However, the refinement of high concentrations of hydrogen ion implanted into surface and buried amorphous silicon has not been studied. We present results of the crystalline kinetics via time-resolved reflectivity studies and of the hydrogen profiles and crystalline structure of the regrown layers respectively via elastic recoil detection and Rutherford backscattering analysis. Copyright (2005) Australian Institute of Physics