Solid Phase Epitaxial Regrowth of Ge sub x Si sub (1-x) on [100] Si

Solid phase epitaxial regrowth of Ge sub x Si sub (1-x) (4%60%) on Si has been investigated. The MBE grown Ge sub x Si sub (1-x) was first amorphized by 300-500 keV Si ion beams before being annealed in a vacuum furnace in the temperature range of 475 to 575C. For samples with low Ge content (x8%), the epitaxial regrowth proceeded in a layer by layer fashion, with the regrowth rate linearly proportional to the annealing time. The minimum yield recovered to 4% when the entire film was recrystallized. However samples with more Ge concentrations exhibited a non-planar-recrystallization behavior, as indicated by both Rutherford backscattering spectrometry and transmission electron microscopy. Furthermore the minimum yield of the Ge rich samples after regrowth was several times larger than that in the as-deposited state.