Periodic three-dimensional structures were successfully grown on single crystal Si wafers either bare or Au-covered under their exposure to a pulsed radiation of a Nd:YAG laser in vacuum. The structures protrude above the initial wafer surface for 10 mu m while their spatial period is about 70 pm. The coupling of the laser radiation to Si surface is related to the thermal non-linear absorption of the near band cap radiation. The structures exhibit an efficient field emission with an average emission current of 5 mA/cm(2) and is sensitive to the post-treatment of samples. The drawbacks of the emission current densities are discussed. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.