The authors have investigated the diffusion enhancement mechanism of BED (boron enhanced diffusion), wherein the boron diffusivity is enhanced three to four times over the equilibrium diffusivity at 1,050 C in the proximity of a silicon layer containing a high boron concentration. It is shown that BED is associated with the formation of a fine-grain polycrystalline silicon boride phase within an initially amorphous Si layer having a high B concentration. For 0.5 keV B{sup +}, the threshold implantation dose which leads to BED lies between 3 {times} 10{sup 14} and of 1 {times} 10{sup 15}/cm{sup {minus}2}. Formation of the shallowest possible junctions by 0.5 keV B{sup +} requires that the implant dose be kept lower than this threshold.