Patent · US Expired

Separation of thin films from transparent substrates by selective optical processing

US6071795A · kind A · utility

781Cited by
9References
25Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJan 23, 1998
Grant dateJun 6, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 23, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH10H20/018
  • WIPO fieldSemiconductors
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method of separating a thin film of GaN epitaxially grown on a sapphire substrate. The thin film is bonded to an acceptor substrate, and the sapphire substrate is laser irradiated with a scanned beam at a wavelength at which sapphire is transparent but the GaN is strongly absorbing, e.g., 248 nm. After the laser irradiation, the sample is heated above the melting point of gallium, i.e., above 30.degree. C., and the acceptor substrate and attached GaN thin film are removed from the sapphire growth substrate. If the acceptor substrate is flexible, the GaN thin film can be scribed along cleavage planes of the GaN, and, when the flexible substrate is bent, the GaN film cleaves on those planes. Thereby, GaN lasers and other electronic and opto-electronic devices can be formed.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.