Melt depth and time variations during pulsed laser thermal annealing with one and more pulses

In this work we present transient reflectivity measurements, maximum melt depths, and surface topographies of ion implanted silicon samples after pulsed excimer laser thermal annealing in the melting regime. The samples were annealed with different laser energies and number of pulses. We found that the melt dynamics change after the first laser pulse resulting in a shorter melt time but deeper melt depth. This can be explained by a change in reflectivity due to boron activation, surface modifications and small changes in the oxide thickness.