Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Fabrication of thin-film electronic devices with non-destructive wafer reuse

Patent ·
OSTI ID:1632442

Thin-film electronic devices such as LED devices and field effect transistor devices are fabricated using a non-destructive epitaxial lift-off technique that allows indefinite reuse of a growth substrate. The method includes providing an epitaxial protective layer on the growth substrate and a sacrificial release layer between the protective layer and an active device layer. After the device layer is released from the growth substrate, the protective layer is selectively etched to provide a newly exposed surface suitable for epitaxial growth of another device layer. The entire thickness of the growth substrate is preserved, enabling continued reuse. Inorganic thin-film device layers can be transferred to a flexible secondary substrate, enabling formation of curved inorganic optoelectronic devices.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
SC0001013
Assignee:
The Regents of the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI)
Patent Number(s):
10,535,685
Application Number:
15/101,287
OSTI ID:
1632442
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (17)

Laser lift-off technique and the re-utilization of GaN-based LED films grown on sapphire substrate journal September 2008
Materials for stretchable electronics journal March 2012
Direct transfer patterning on three dimensionally deformed surfaces at micrometer resolutions and its application to hemispherical focal plane detector arrays journal December 2008
Demonstration of Multiple Substrate Reuses for Inverted Metamorphic Solar Cells journal April 2013
GaAs photovoltaics and optoelectronics using releasable multilayer epitaxial assemblies journal May 2010
Reuse of GaAs substrates for epitaxial lift-off by employing protection layers journal February 2012
Stretchable, Transparent Graphene Interconnects for Arrays of Microscale Inorganic Light Emitting Diodes on Rubber Substrates journal September 2011
High efficiency GaAs thin film solar cells by peeled film technology journal December 1978
Kerf-Less Removal of Si, Ge, and III–V Layers by Controlled Spalling to Enable Low-Cost PV Technologies journal April 2012
Epitaxial lift-off process for gallium arsenide substrate reuse and flexible electronics journal March 2013
Multiple growths of epitaxial lift-off solar cells from a single InP substrate journal September 2010
High-efficiency thin-film InGaP/InGaAs/Ge tandem solar cells enabled by controlled spalling technology journal January 2012
Wafer reuse for repeated growth of III-V solar cells journal May 2010
Macroscopic electronic behavior and atomic arrangements of GaAs surfaces immersed in HCl solution
  • Ishikawa, Y.; Ishii, H.; Hasegawa, H.
  • Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B: Microelectronics and Nanometer Structures Processing, Measurement, and Phenomena, Vol. 12, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1116/1.587237
journal July 1994
Digital cameras with designs inspired by the arthropod eye journal May 2013
Study of GaAs(001) Surfaces Treated in Aqueous HCl Solutions journal December 1997
Separation of Thin GaN from Sapphire by Laser Lift-Off Technique journal April 2011