The transition to single crystal of ion‐implanted amorphous Si and Ge layers is described in terms of a liquid‐phase epitaxy occurring during pulsing‐laser irradiation. A standard heat equations including laser light absorption was solved numerically to give the time evolution of temperature and melting as a function of the pulse energy density and its duration. The structure dependence of the absorption coefficient and the temperature dependence of the thermal conductivity were accounted for in the calculations. In this model the transition to single crystal occurs above a well‐defined threshold energy density at which the liquid layer wets the underlying single‐crystal substrate. Experiments were performed in ion‐implanted amorphous layers of thicknesses ranging between 500 and 9000 A˚. The energy densities of theQ‐switched ruby laser ranged between 0.2 and 3.5 J/cm2; time durations of 20 and 50 ns were used. The experimental data are in good agreement with the calculated values for the amorphous thickness–energy−density threshold. The model deals mainly with plausibility arguments and does not account for processes occuring in the near‐threshold region or below the melting temperature.