Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2011
Ion implanted, amorphous layers on (100) GaAs have been recrystallised epitaxially by 1.5 MeV Ne+ irradiation at temperatures between 75°C and 135°C. The extent of regrowth essentially increases linearly with ion fluence in the early stages of crystallization and the process is characterized by an activation energy of 0.16eV, about an order of magnitude lower than that for thermal - only epitaxy. Beam annealing produces dislocations in the underlying GaAs crystal, the density of which increases with depth up to the Ne+ ion range.