Recrystallisation and dopant diffusion in amorphised germanium layers upon pulsed laser annealing

Abstract In the present paper the results of investigations of the recrystallisation process in amorphous Ge near-surface layers induced by laser annealing are reported. Amorphised layers were created by implantation of Ge single crystal with 150 keV Sn ions at a dose 1×10 16 cm −2 . Structural changes and redistribution of dopants were caused in irradiated materials by a single nanosecond laser pulse. For a study of the near-surface layer structure before and after laser annealing, the reflection high-energy electron diffraction technique was applied. Dopant diffusion was investigated by means of secondary ion mass spectrometry. Changes for polycrystalline of the near-surface layer structure amorphised by Sn implantation, occurred independently of the phase transitions and of the dopant concentration (0–8%).