The Phenomenology of Ion Implantation-Induced Blistering and Thin-Layer Splitting in Compound Semiconductors

Abstract

Hydrogen and/or helium implantation-induced surface blistering and layer splitting in compound semiconductors such as InP, GaAs, GaN, AlN, and ZnO are discussed. The blistering phenomenon depends on many parameters such as the semiconductor material, ion fluence, ion energy, and implantation temperature. The optimum values of these parameters for compound semiconductors are presented. The blistering and splitting processes in silicon have been studied in detail, motivated by the fabrication of the widely used silicon-on-insulator wafers. Hence, a comparison of the blistering process in Si and compound semiconductors is also presented. This comparative study is technologically relevant since ion implantation-induced layer splitting combined with direct wafer bonding in principle allows the transfer of any type of semiconductor layer onto any foreign substrate of choice—the technique is known as the ion-cut or Smart-Cut™ method. For the aforementioned compound semiconductors, investigations regarding layer transfer using the ion-cut method are still in their infancy. We report feasibility studies of layer transfer by the ion-cut method for some of the most important and widely used compound semiconductors. The importance of characteristic values for successful wafer bonding such as wafer bow and surface flatness as well as roughness are discussed, and difficulties in achieving some of these values are pointed out.