High-pressure Processing of Hyper-doped Silicon

We report the successful processing and characterization of silicon hyper-doped with sulfur using a nanosecond-pulsed laser in the presence of sulfur hexafluoride at pressures greater than one atmosphere. Microstructures on the surface formed during the high-pressure processing require less energy to form yet contain comparable sulfur content as samples processed at one atmosphere. These structures exhibit enhanced short-infrared absorption, a property of interest for solar cell and infrared detection applications.