Concerted experiments and theoretical analysis were applied to demonstrate conclusively vacancy generation during fast melting and re-growth of Si by laser irradiation. Experiments, based upon positron annihilation spectroscopy and designed to test the theoretical predictions, revealed a vacancy supersaturation after laser processing which depended upon the irradiation conditions. Stochastic atomistic simulations of the molten Si recrystallization revealed trapping of vacancies in the recrystallized region. Finally, continuum phase-field simulations of the full process, calibrated using the Monte Carlo results, revealed a defect evolution in close agreement with the experiments.

Vacancy Generation in Liquid Phase Epitaxy of Si. A.La Magna, V.Privitera, G.Fortunato, M.Cuscunà, B.G.Svensson, E.Monakhov, K.Kuitunen, J.Slotte, F.Tuomisto: Physical Review B, 2007, 75[23], 235201