Abstract
In this paper, the impact of the N-2 anneal on laser processed silicon was investigated using photoluminescence (PL) imaging through comparing the PL signal of laser processed samples before and after N-2 anneal. The samples capped with different dielectrics or without any dielectric (bare surface) prior to the laser processing were used, enabling the evaluation of the influence of the N-2 anneal on the defects caused both by laser thermal effect and by the existence of dielectrics. Generally, it was found that N-2 anneal is an effective way to reduce both the laser and dielectric induced defects. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).