Method of producing a thin layer of crystalline material
US6806171B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 7, 2002 |
| Grant date | Oct 19, 2004 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 7, 2022 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S438/96
- WIPO fieldSemiconductors
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A technique for forming a film of crystalline material, preferably silicon. The technique creates a sandwich structure with a weakened region at a selected depth underneath the surface. The weakened region is a layer of porous silicon with high porosity. The high porosity enclosed layer is formed by (1) forming a porous silicon layer with low porosity on surface of the substrate, (2) epitaxial growth of a non-porous layer over the low-porous layer (3) increasing of porosity of the low-porous layer making the said layer hi-porous, (4) cleaving the semiconductor substrate at said high porous layer. The porosity of the buried low-porous layer is increased by hydrogenation techniques, for example, by processing in hydrogen plasma. The process is preferentially used to produce silicon-on-insulator wafers.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.