Patent · US Active

Methods of producing free-standing semiconductors using sacrificial buffer layers and recyclable substrates

US9041027B2 · kind B2 · utility

5Cited by
26References
10Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 1, 2010
Grant dateMay 26, 2015
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 1, 2030

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH10D62/40
  • WIPO fieldSemiconductors
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method of producing semiconductor materials and devices that incorporate the semiconductor materials are provided. In particular, a method is provided of producing a semiconductor material, such as a III-V semiconductor, on a spinel substrate using a sacrificial buffer layer, and devices such as photovoltaic cells that incorporate the semiconductor materials. The sacrificial buffer material and semiconductor materials may be deposited using lattice-matching epitaxy or coincident site lattice-matching epitaxy, resulting in a close degree of lattice matching between the substrate material and deposited material for a wide variety of material compositions. The sacrificial buffer layer may be dissolved using an epitaxial liftoff technique in order to separate the semiconductor device from the spinel substrate, and the spinel substrate may be reused in the subsequent fabrication of other semiconductor devices. The low-defect density semiconductor materials produced using this method result in the enhanced performance of the semiconductor devices that incorporate the semiconductor materials.

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