Arsenic diffusion in silicon melted by high-power nanosecond laser pulsing

Abstract
The time evolution of temperature and melting in amorphous silicon layers laser irradiated was calculated numerically. Experiments were performed in Si crystals implanted with 400‐keV As to a dose of 5×1015/cm2 and illuminated with 50‐ns‐duration Q‐switched ruby laser pulse in the energy range 1.0–3.0 J/cm2. Comparison between experimental and calculated results allows a quantitative understanding of the amorphous–to–single‐crystal transition. A good agreement was found between the experimental As profiles after laser irradiation and those calculated with a diffusion coefficient of 10−4 cm2/s for As in liquid silicon.