Low Thermal Budget Annealing

A method for processing a semiconductor workpiece, the method comprising:

• depositing a layer of semiconductor material onto the semiconductor workpiece at the device side of the semiconductor workpiece, the layer having an amorphous structure;
• doping the layer of semiconductor material with a dopant species;
• annealing the layer for crystallization using solid phase epitaxy;
• wherein during crystallization, the dopant species becomes incorporated into crystalline material
• wherein annealing the layer for crystallization comprises:
• placing a workpiece on a workpiece support in a processing chamber of the thermal processing system such that the non-device side surface faces one or more arc lamps;
• heating the workpiece to an intermediate temperature using one or more heat sources;
• providing an irradiance flash to the non-device side surface of the workpiece using the one or more arc lamps, the irradiance flash having a duration of less than about 100 ms such that a rate of heating the device side surface is greater than 1000 K/s and a rate of cooling the device side surface is less than about 1000 K/s;