Vaporisation of GaAs during laser annealing

It is found that when uncoated GaAs samples are irradiated with a Q-switched ruby laser, the samples suffer substantial weight losses for laser cnergy densities > 0·3 J/cm2. These weight losses are believed to result from the vaporization of the samples during the period in which the surfaces are in a molten state. The incomplete electrical activation of implanted ions in GaAs after laser annealing can be accounted for by the weight-loss phenomenon.