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

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.