Production of Hyper-Doped Silicon at Greater than One Atmosphere of Sulfur Hexafluoride

We demonstrate the successful processing of sulfur-hyper-doped silicon using a nanosecond-pulsed laser in the presence of sulfur hexafluoride at pressures greater than one atmosphere. At these pressures, microstructures that form on the surface contain comparable sulfur content as samples processed traditionally at pressures less than 1 atm but require less energy to form. Samples with these structures were verified to have enhanced absorption into the infrared spectrum making them of interest for solar cell and infrared detection technologies.