Theoretical and experimental investigation of the dynamics of pulsed laser annealing of amorphous silicon

Abstract
The dynamics of surface melting and resolidification of self‐ion‐implanted amorphous silicon (∼4000 Å layer) during irradiation with a Q‐switched Nd:glass laser (λ = 1.06 μm) has been studied both theoretically and experimentally. The technique of finite‐difference equations is used to solve the nonlinear one‐dimensional heat conduction equations for the solid and liquid phases, taking into account appropriate time‐dependent boundary conditions for finding the position of the melt front as a function of time. In addition we present experimental results for the time‐dependent optical reflectivity of self‐ion‐implanted amorphous silicon to study the transition from amorphous to crystalline phases during annealing with a Nd:glass laser pulse.