Patent ID: 7554055

Claim:
A method of forming a low resistance contact on a workpiece, the method comprising: (a) providing a workpiece formed from a semiconductor and having an electrical contact portion; (b) forming a metal film on the electrical contact portion of the workpiece; the formation of the metal film comprising: (c) removing a native oxide layer from the electrical contact portion of the workpiece; (d) depositing a diffusion layer on the workpiece where the native oxide layer was removed; (e) depositing a capping layer on the diffusion layer to reduce oxidation during subsequent processing steps; and then (f) locally heating the metal film with a scanned laser beam to locally heat the metal film on the workpiece and interdiffusing the metal of the film and the semiconductor of the workpiece while minimizing a total thermal load on the workpiece, such that the metal film is locally annealed, while keeping a temperature in a thermally sensitive region of the workpiece below 100° C. to avoid thermal damage thereto.