Pulsed non-melt laser annealing (NLA) has been used to modify the near surface defect and related junction properties in the ClGS solar cells. CIGS films deposited on Mo/glass substrates were annealed by using a 248 nm line Kr excimer laser at selected laser energy densities and pulse number, and characterized by the dual beam optical modulation (DBOM), XRD, SEM, and Hall effect measurements. In addition, selected annealed CdS/CIGS films processed by NLA were fabricated into cells, and characterized by the photo I-V and Q-E measurements. The results suggest that low power (P/sub L/ < 50 mJ/cm/sup 2/) NLA treatment could increase the effective carrier lifetime, mobility, film grain size, and sheet resistance and lower the near-surface defect density in the films, thus improve the performance of CIGS cells.