The quadratic finite element thermal analysis of silicon irradiated by a pulsed KrF excimer laser

The melting and solidification process of crystalline silicon (c-Si) sample flashed by a pulsed KrF excimer laser is studied numerically. The dynamics of pulsed nanosecond laser melting process is simulated by the solution of the one-dimensional heat conduction equation. The quadratic finite element method (FEM) is applied to solve the equation. This method is based upon a higher order FEM with a smaller error and allowing faster convergence to the exact solution. The surface temperatures obtained by the quadratic FEM are in good agreement with the exact solutions. In addition to this, the temperature-dependent optical and thermal properties of the irradiated c-Si have been taken into account and the calculated results are compared with the experimental data published.