Recrystallization of Ion Implanted Amorphous and Heavily Damaged Semiconductors

The use of energetic ion beams to modify the physical and electrical properties of materials has become widely adapted in the last decade. Ion implantation doping of semiconductors, such as silicon and gallium arsenide, has become accepted as a standard industrial process for device fabrication in these materials. Since an energetic ion can create lattice defects in a crystalline material, the understanding of both the removal or intentional stabilization of this lattice damage is an area of significant importance. In this paper we shall review the present understanding of the removal of high dose implant damage in semiconductor materials.