Shallow (Rp∼20 nm) As and B‐doped layers in (100) silicon, formed by low‐energy ion implantation, have been investigated using conventional and high resolution transmission electron microscopy before and after either electron beam or furnace annealing. After annealing residual defects were observed in the region beyond the original amorphous/crystalline interface for both As and B implants and the nature of these defects and their stability was found to be relatively insensitive to a variety of annealing conditions. Lattice images of 10‐keV As‐implanted material indicated that a continuous amorphous layer was formed after implantation which regrew into perfect single crystal following electron beam processing for 1 s with a peak temperature of 900 °C.