Silicon p-n junctions produced by ruby laser pulses

Crystalline n-type silicon covered with a layer of doping material (aluminum) was irradiated by a pulsed ruby laser beam. The resulting structures were in the shape of a crater with central cone, and had a diode-like current-voltage characteristic. Measurement of the capacitance-voltage characteristic showed that the impurity distribution changes its linear character to a step-like one for energy in the range 0.9-1.3 J. The photoelectric sensitivity of these junctions is greater than that of commercial diodes.