Low temperature sensitivity of femtosecond-laser induced amorphization of silicon
Abstract
Ultrafast quenching conditions following femtosecond laser irradiation offer a promising alternative to ion implantation methods for silicon surface amorphization. Despite its simplicity, the laser-based approach faces key limitations, such as produced layers with restricted amorphization depth and dependence on the initial crystal orientation. Here, we demonstrate that the temperature gives a control parameter for limiting these constraints. Through comparative analyses of silicon modifications after single-pulse exposure (1030 nm, 200 fs) at varying temperatures from 45 °C to -30 °C, we show that the amorphization response is significantly enhanced at low temperature. Notably, a modest temperature drop of about 50 °C from room temperature makes silicon with (100) orientation prone to amorphization, despite its known inherent resistance to this transformation under single-pulse femtosecond irradiation at room temperature. Although the fluence threshold for modification (Fth) remains nearly unchanged, the fluence range (ΔF) leading to amorphization expands, reaching ΔF/Fth ≈ 2 at the temperature of -30°C, as attributed to accelerated heat dissipation. However, further cooling to cryogenic temperatures yields only minor additional benefit, indicating a saturation temperature. For both (111) and (100) orientations, the maximum amorphization depth increases with decreasing temperature, up to this limit. These results underscore the possibility of temperature optimization for extending the applicability of femtosecond laser-induced amorphization layers in photonics and microelectronics.
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BibTeX
@misc{wang2026temperature,
title = {{Low temperature sensitivity of femtosecond-laser induced amorphization of silicon}},
author = {Andong Wang and Gonzalo Gomez-Munoz and Mario Garcia-Lechuga and Pol Sopeña and Emmanuel André and Jose Gonzalo and Sicheng Zhu and Jan Siegel and David Grojo},
howpublished = {HAL},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.2139/ssrn.7113801},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05760299v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Low temperature sensitivity of femtosecond-laser induced amorphization of silicon
AU - Andong Wang
AU - Gonzalo Gomez-Munoz
AU - Mario Garcia-Lechuga
AU - Pol Sopeña
AU - Emmanuel André
AU - Jose Gonzalo
AU - Sicheng Zhu
AU - Jan Siegel
AU - David Grojo
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/23
PB - HAL
DO - 10.2139/ssrn.7113801
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05760299v1
AB - Ultrafast quenching conditions following femtosecond laser irradiation offer a promising alternative to ion implantation methods for silicon surface amorphization. Despite its simplicity, the laser-based approach faces key limitations, such as produced layers with restricted amorphization depth and dependence on the initial crystal orientation. Here, we demonstrate that the temperature gives a control parameter for limiting these constraints. Through comparative analyses of silicon modifications after single-pulse exposure (1030 nm, 200 fs) at varying temperatures from 45 °C to -30 °C, we show that the amorphization response is significantly enhanced at low temperature. Notably, a modest temperature drop of about 50 °C from room temperature makes silicon with (100) orientation prone to amorphization, despite its known inherent resistance to this transformation under single-pulse femtosecond irradiation at room temperature. Although the fluence threshold for modification (Fth) remains nearly unchanged, the fluence range (ΔF) leading to amorphization expands, reaching ΔF/Fth ≈ 2 at the temperature of -30°C, as attributed to accelerated heat dissipation. However, further cooling to cryogenic temperatures yields only minor additional benefit, indicating a saturation temperature. For both (111) and (100) orientations, the maximum amorphization depth increases with decreasing temperature, up to this limit. These results underscore the possibility of temperature optimization for extending the applicability of femtosecond laser-induced amorphization layers in photonics and microelectronics.
ER -