In thin-film technology, heat treatment – also referred to as annealing – is often used to selectively improve material properties of thin films, such as their crystallinity or density, and hence their electrical and optical properties. However, these are energy-intensive as well as time-intensive techniques, associated with large facility footprints. That makes their applicability for large-area substrate formats difficult or even impossible. Flash lamp annealing (FLA) offers a smart solution...