Surface Processes in Semiconductors Under Pulsed Laser Excitation

Abstract

Intense pulsed laser excitation of a semiconductor above its band gap induces many surface-related effects, most of them highly non-linear, such as reconstruction, photolysis, migration, defect annealing, particle emission … Their potential application to electronic device technology, and a controversy about their microscopic origin (thermal or non-thermal) have recently led to a surge in interest in such studies, despite the many theoretical and experimental problems involved. For the first time, we are in a position to unravel the sequence of some of these effects as a function of laser fluence and wavelength, on the same semiconductor surface under careful control by ultra-high-vacuum (UHV) surface techniques.