Experimental determination of thermal profiles during laser spike annealing with quantitative comparison to 3-dimensional simulations

Thin film platinum resistors were used to directly measure temperature profiles during laser spike annealing (LSA) with high spatial and temporal resolution. Observed resistance changes were calibrated to absolute temperatures using the melting points of the substrate silicon and thin gold films. Both the time-dependent temperature experienced by the sample during passage of the focussed laser beam and profiles across the spatially dependent laser intensity were obtained with sub-millisecond time resolution and 50 µm spatial resolution. Full 3-dimensional simulations incorporating both optical and thermal variations of material parameters were compared with these results. Accounting properly for the specific material parameters, good agreement between experiments and simulations was achieved. Future temperature measurements in complex environments will permit critical evaluation of LSA simulations methodologies.