A phenomenological model of ion-bombardment-induced amorphization and re-crystallization in Si

Following recent computational studies of the processes of ion-bombardment-induced amorphization and re-crystallization in Si, which identified a possible major role of interstitial-vacancy (i-v) pairs or bond defects in these, a phenomenological model is developed which explains qualitatively, and semi-quantitatively, experimental and computational results. The model includes the effects of both thermal and ion-bombardment-induced annealing of disorder and discusses the kinetics of the accumulation of amorphousness during increasing ion bombardment and the competition between further amorphization and re-crystallization at amorphous-crystal boundaries. The important roles of ion flux density and substrate temperature and their inter-relationship are identified.