Heterointegration of Compound Semiconductors by Ultrathin Layer Splitting

Abstract

Compound semiconductors are very attractive for a wide spectrum of applications in electronics, optoelectronics, photonics, and photovoltaics. From materials standpoint, the exploitation of the full potential of these technologies requires processes that can satisfy the two major conditions: (1) Integrability with the traditional technology of Si; and (2) Cost-effective. In this perspective, this paper presents the ion-cut process by which fine monocrystalline layers can be transferred onto foreign substrates. Bulk quality heterostructures frequently unattainable by direct epitaxial growth can be produced, which offers an additional degree of freedom in design and fabrication of hybrid devices. Ion-cut process can also be exploited to reduce the material cost by splitting several ultrathin layers from the same wafer. Materials and engineering issues as well as our current understanding of the underlying physics involved in the application of ion-cut process to cleave thin layers from III-V and III-nitride semiconductors are briefly discussed.