The strain distribution in boron implanted, laser annealed silicon has been investigated using x‐ray Bragg reflection profiles. The 400 Bragg reflection profile from implanted, laser annealed silicon was analyzed, using the dynamical theory of scattering for distorted crystals, to obtain the strain distribution in the implanted layer as a function of depth. The depth distribution of the strain for an implantation dose of 1×101635 keV B+/cm2, followed by a 1.6 J/cm2ruby laser pulse, was found to have a magnitude of −5.8×10−3near the surface and was found to decrease rapidly for depths greater than 0.2 &mgr;m. The shape of the depth distribution of the strain was found to be essentially the same as that for the boron distribution after laser annealing.