Ion mass and energy dependence of ion-beam-induced epitaxial crystallization of SrTiO3

The amorphous SrTiO₃ (110 nm thick) on single crystal SrTiO₃ (100) has been crystallized by He⁺, Ne⁺ and Ar⁺ ion with energy of 200 keV-2 MeV at a substrate temperature of 200°C. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry and ion channeling were used to evaluate the crystallization process. Ion-beam-induced Epitaxial Crystallization (IBIEC) was confirmed and minimum backscattering yield of 10% was observed for fully crystallized sample. Roughening of the surface was observed by AFM after the IBIEC. The IBIEC kinetics from the view of both point defects generated by nuclear collision process and electronic energy deposition has been discussed. It seems that point defects dominate the IBIEC process and that the IBIEC is enhanced by electronic energy deposition in MeV region