Method and apparatus involving pulsed electron beam processing of semiconductor devices

A method for localized thermal annealing of a selected surface region of a semiconductor comprising the steps of:

• a. generating a short duration pulse of electrons in the form of a directed beam constituting a short duration pulsed electron beam;
• b. directing said short duration pulsed electron beam at the selected surface region of the semiconductor;
• c. impacting the selected surface region with said short duration pulsed electron beam;
• and
• d. momentarily elevating temperature only in a vicinity of the impacted region above a temperature at which annealing occurs by the energy deposited from said short duration pulsed electron pulse for a time period of less than one second.

A method for fabrication of semiconductor devices from semiconductor material to finished device with all processing performed under vacuum and at ambient conditions, said method comprising the steps of:

• a. ion implanting of dopant impurities into the semiconductor material at ambient temperature;
• b. short duration pulsed electron beam processing of ion implanted regions for annealing radiation damage due to implantation and for electrically activating the implanted structure, said short duration pulsed electron beam having at least one short duration pulse of electrons having a time period in the range of 10.sup..sup.-9 to 10.sup..sup.-1 second;
• c. evaporating surface film components of the semiconductor device structure;
• and
• d. pulsed electron beam processing of evaporated surface film components for effectuating electrical, optical and mechanical parameters of the film components and their operation.