AbstractA comparison has been made between the furnace annealing (FA) and the CW lasing annealing (CWLA) of Yb+ ion implants in CdTe. An implant dose of 3 × 1015 Yb+ ions cm-2 at an ion energy of 50 keV was used. Cathodoluminescence was used to monitor the annealing effects. The threshold for laser surface damage was found to be 11.8 kW m-1 and successful CWLA was achieved in an air ambient below this threshold. Referred to the Yb3+ emission the optimum FA and CWLA intensities were comparable. Evidence is provided in support of the earlier work of Uzan et al.8 which showed the laser enhanced sublimation of CdTe.