We report for the first time the successful use of the Hg1−xCdxTe native oxide as an encapsulation layer for an annealing process designed to activate an implanted impurity. The annealing process does not require Hg over pressure and consists of both furnace (∼200 °C) and rapid thermal (∼320 °C) anneals. Using 2.2 MeV4He+ion channeling measurements, we show that the implantation damage can be annealed out without loss of Hg from the substrate. Also, both secondary ion mass spectrometry and differential van der Pauw measurements indicate that the resulting electron concentration profile closely matches that of the implanted11B profile and the electrical junction is found to lie close to the expected position of the metallurgical junction.