Laser-induced lateral epitaxy in fully depleted silicon-on-insulator junctions

Junction formation by laser-induced lateral epitaxy was studied on a fully depleted silicon-on-insulator substrate (25-30 nm Si on 375 nm silicon dioxide). Selective laser melting of amorphous films with a 35 ns 308 nm XeCl laser pulse was characterized in situ using transient conduction and optical reflectance techniques. Lateral epitaxy from a channel edge was observed for 146 nm after a 300mJ/cm² irradiation. The initial 28 nm of epitaxy was nearly defect free, followed by an increasing density of twins and ultimately terminating in an amorphous quench. The microstructure is discussed as a lateral equivalent of laser-induced amorphization of bulk Si.