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Title: Increased fracture depth range in controlled spalling of (100)-oriented germanium via electroplating

Abstract

Controlled spalling in (100)-oriented germanium using a nickel stressor layer shows promise for semiconductor device exfoliation and kerfless wafering. Demonstrated spall depths of 7-60 um using DC sputtering to deposit the stressor layer are appropriate for the latter application but spall depths < 5 um may be required to minimize waste for device applications. This work investigates the effect of tuning both electroplating current density and electrolyte chemistry on the residual stress in the nickel and on the achievable spall depth range for the Ni/Ge system as a lower-cost, higher-throughput alternative to sputtering. By tuning current density and electrolyte phosphorous concentration, it is shown that electroplating can successfully span the same range of spalled thicknesses as has previously been demonstrated by sputtering and can reach sufficiently high stresses to enter a regime of thickness (<7 um) appropriate to minimize substrate consumption for device applications.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [3]
  1. Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)
  2. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  3. Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States); National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
OSTI Identifier:
1424582
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1548764
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5J00-71046
Journal ID: ISSN 0040-6090
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC36-08GO28308
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Thin Solid Films
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 649; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0040-6090
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
14 SOLAR ENERGY; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; flexible electronics; thin film; substrate reuse; germanium; fracture; spalling; layer transfer; exfoliation

Citation Formats

Crouse, Dustin, Simon, John, Schulte, Kevin L., Young, David L., Ptak, Aaron J., and Packard, Corinne E. Increased fracture depth range in controlled spalling of (100)-oriented germanium via electroplating. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1016/j.tsf.2018.01.031.
Crouse, Dustin, Simon, John, Schulte, Kevin L., Young, David L., Ptak, Aaron J., & Packard, Corinne E. Increased fracture depth range in controlled spalling of (100)-oriented germanium via electroplating. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2018.01.031
Crouse, Dustin, Simon, John, Schulte, Kevin L., Young, David L., Ptak, Aaron J., and Packard, Corinne E. Wed . "Increased fracture depth range in controlled spalling of (100)-oriented germanium via electroplating". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2018.01.031. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1424582.
@article{osti_1424582,
title = {Increased fracture depth range in controlled spalling of (100)-oriented germanium via electroplating},
author = {Crouse, Dustin and Simon, John and Schulte, Kevin L. and Young, David L. and Ptak, Aaron J. and Packard, Corinne E.},
abstractNote = {Controlled spalling in (100)-oriented germanium using a nickel stressor layer shows promise for semiconductor device exfoliation and kerfless wafering. Demonstrated spall depths of 7-60 um using DC sputtering to deposit the stressor layer are appropriate for the latter application but spall depths < 5 um may be required to minimize waste for device applications. This work investigates the effect of tuning both electroplating current density and electrolyte chemistry on the residual stress in the nickel and on the achievable spall depth range for the Ni/Ge system as a lower-cost, higher-throughput alternative to sputtering. By tuning current density and electrolyte phosphorous concentration, it is shown that electroplating can successfully span the same range of spalled thicknesses as has previously been demonstrated by sputtering and can reach sufficiently high stresses to enter a regime of thickness (<7 um) appropriate to minimize substrate consumption for device applications.},
doi = {10.1016/j.tsf.2018.01.031},
journal = {Thin Solid Films},
number = C,
volume = 649,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jan 31 00:00:00 EST 2018},
month = {Wed Jan 31 00:00:00 EST 2018}
}

Journal Article:

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 13 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Figures / Tables:

Table 1 Table 1: Measured Ni film thicknesses and Ge spall depth for controllably spalled samples for different electrolyte chemistries

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Works referencing / citing this record:

Figures/Tables have been extracted from DOE-funded journal article accepted manuscripts.