Methods and systems for performing laser thermal processing (LTP) of semiconductor devices are disclosed. The method includes forming a dielectric cap atop a temperature-sensitive element, and then forming an absorber layer atop the dielectric layer. A switch layer may optionally be formed atop the absorber layer. The dielectric cap thermally isolates the temperature-sensitive element from the absorber layer. This allows less-temperature-sensitive regions such as unactivated source and drain regions to be heated sufficiently to activate these regions during LTP via melting and recrystallization of the regions, while simultaneously preventing melting of the temperature-sensitive element, such as a poly-gate.