Laser crystallization mechanism of amorphous SiC thin films

Amorphous silicon carbide thin films have been prepared by pulsed laser deposition or by amorphization of a surface region of a single crystalline SiC wafer by implantation of germanium ions, These films were crystallized by a single pulse of an excimer laser (248 nm wavelength, 30 ns pulse duration) resulting in crystallites 10 to 50 nm in size. The laser fluence threshold for crystallization was 250 mJ/cm(2). From time resolved reflection measurements during the crystallization process and from the distribution of the implanted germanium it is concluded that the crystallization occured via a metastable liquid phase of SiC not present in the equilibrium phase diagram. Laser crystallization of SiC is compared with that of Si.