Abstract
High power ion beam annealing has been applied to ion-implanted and evaporated amorphous silicon samples. Microstructures induced by this novel technique have been investigated by transmission electron microscope. The analysis of diffraction patterns and direct images of ion beam annealed as well as thermally annealed specimens indicates that ion beam annealing is a promising technique to process ion-implanted and evaporated amorphous samples. It was found that several seconds of intense ion beam bombardment produced similar effects as did 1-h 600-900°C thermal annealing.