Pulsed-laser-based methods have been applied for post-implant annealing of p-type Al-doped 4H-SiC wafers in order to restore the crystal structure and to electrically activate the doping species. The annealing was performed with the third harmonic (355 nm) of a Nd:YAG laser at 4 ns pulse duration. The epilayers were characterized by micro-Raman spectroscopy under surface and cross-sectional backscattering. Changes in the phonon mode-intensity were related to the laser annealing induced recrystallization of the implanted material. The results were compared with changes in the infrared reflectivity across the Reststrahlen band. Transmission electron microscopy analysis showed the formation of columnar polycrystalline structure after the laser annealing process. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.