Anisotropic melting and epitaxial regrowth of laser-irradiated silicon

Using Nd-YAG laser pulses in the 100-μs regime, melting and regrowth of monocrystalline silicon is studied. It is shown that surface melting proceeds preferentially along the crystallographic axes. This leads to a characteristic surface pattern if uniform irradiation slightly above melting threshold is applied. Regrowth under these circumstances is epitaxial.