Transmission electron microscopy has been used to study the effects of high‐power laser pulses on as‐grown and boron‐implanted silicon. No defects (dislocations, dislocation loops, and stacking faults) were observed in either as‐grown or boron‐implanted (doses 3×1015and 2×1016ions cm−2) silicon after pulsed laser treatment. In thermally annealed specimens, on the other hand, a significant amount of damage was retained even after annealing at 1100 °C for 30 min. After thermally annealing the implanted laser‐treated specimens at 600 and 900 °C for 30 min, no defects were observed for low‐dose specimens; however, in high‐dose specimens, precipitation of boron occurred after 600 °C annealing and it increased after annealing at 900 °C. These results and the electrical measurements on these samples suggest that the boron atoms in the precipitates are electrically inactive.