Flash lamp annealing
Flash lamp annealing (or alternatively pulsed light, photonic sintering, photonic curing) is a method of thermal processing where surfaces are heated in a split second. Typical treatment durations are several microseconds up to some milliseconds. The surface is treated with one or more highly energetic flashes of a flash lamp. Thus, material characteristics can be altered without thermally loading the substrate below. Because of that, the use of temperature-sensitive substrates is possible.
Flash lamp annealing is faster and less cost-intensive than conventional furnace heating. Moreover, it scarcely causes thermo-mechanical stress in the bulk and diffusion processes are reduced due to the shorter process duration.