Effect of swift heavy ion (SHI) irradiation on nitrogen ion implanted silicon

The synthesis of buried silicon nitride insulating layers was carried out by SIMNI (separation by implanted nitrogen) process using implantation of 140 keV nitrogen (14N+) ions at fluence of 5.0 × 1017 cm− 2 at room temperature with current density of 45–46 µA-cm− 2 into <111> single crystal silicon substrates. To study the swift heavy ion (SHI) induced recrystallization of SOI (Silicon-on-insulator) structures, the implanted samples were irradiated with 60 MeV Ni+5 ions with fluence of 1.0 × 1014 cm− 2 at high temperature (270 °C). The Micro-Raman spectra show distinct peaks assigned to transverse acoustical (TA) and transverse optical (TO) vibration bands of amorphous silicon. The HRXRD studies show that the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of irradiated samples increases with respect to virgin silicon and the samples remain amorphous even after SHI irradiation.