The Role of Ion Beams in Changing the State of Relaxation of Amorphized Si

A fundamental difference between amorphous Si prepared by Si implantation (amorphized Si) and crystalline Si lies in the fact that the ordered Crystal is well defined, whereas the disordered amorphous state allows for a range of different structures. Consequently, many properties of a-Si are variable and depend on thermal history. The transition from a state with high internal energy to a low energy state is known as structural relaxation and is accompanied by a heat release of several kJ/mole.