Separation of silicon wafers by the smart-cut method

Great efforts have been made for many years to develop methods of achieving thin monocrystalline layers of semiconductor material. The Smart-Cut(R) pr ocess is presented here, a generic process enabling practically any type of monocrystalline layer to be achieved on any type of support. The Smart-Cut (R) process is based on proton implantation and wafer bonding. Proton impla ntation enables delamination of a thin layer from a thick substrate to be a chieved whereas the wafer bonding technique enables different multilayer st ructures to be achieved by transferring the delaminated layer onto a second substrate. The physical mechanisms involved in the delamination process ar e discussed based on the study of proton-induced microcavity formation duri ng implantation and growth during annealing. It is shown that this industri ally economic process is particularly well suited to achieving very high-qu ality SOI material. Other examples of industrially developed applications o f the process are also given.