Controlled cleavage process using patterning

Details Controlled cleavage process using patterning Controlled cleavage process using patterning

1998-02-20

2001-09-18

Lorin, Francis J. (Department: 1734)

Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture

Differential fluid etching apparatus

With microwave gas energizing means

C216S058000, C438S515000, C438S455000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06290804

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the manufacture of substrates. More particularly, the invention provides a technique including a method and device for cleaving a substrate in the fabrication of a silicon-on-insulator substrate for semiconductor integrated circuits using a patterning technique, for example. But it will be recognized that the invention has a wider range of applicability; it can also be applied to other substrates for multi-layered integrated circuit devices, three-dimensional packaging of integrated semiconductor devices, photonic devices, piezoelectronic devices, microelectromechanical systems (“MEMS”), sensors, actuators, solar cells, flat panel displays (e.g., LCD, AMLCD), biological and biomedical devices, and the like.
Craftsmen or more properly crafts-people have been building useful articles, tools, or devices using less useful materials for numerous years. In some cases, articles are assembled by way of smaller elements or building blocks. Alternatively, less useful articles are separated into smaller pieces to improve their utility. A common example of these articles to be separated include substrate structures such as a glass plate, a diamond, a semiconductor substrate, and others.
These substrate structures are often cleaved or separated using a variety of techniques. In some cases, the substrates can be cleaved using a saw operation. The saw operation generally relies upon a rotating blade or tool, which cuts through the substrate material to separate the substrate material into two pieces. This technique, however, is often extremely “rough” and cannot generally be used for providing precision separations in the substrate for the manufacture of fine tools and assemblies. Additionally, the saw operation often has difficulty separating or cutting extremely hard and/or brittle materials such as diamond or glass.
Accordingly, techniques have been developed to separate these hard and/or brittle materials using cleaving approaches. In diamond cutting, for example, an intense directional thermal/mechanical impulse is directed preferentially along a crystallographic plane of a diamond material. This thermal/mechanical impulse generally causes a cleave front to propagate along major crystallographic planes, where cleaving occurs when an energy level from the thermal/mechanical impulse exceeds the fracture energy level along the chosen crystallographic plane.
In glass cutting, a scribe line using a tool is often impressed in a preferred direction on the glass material, which is generally amorphous in character. The scribe line causes a higher stress area surrounding the amorphous glass material. Mechanical force is placed on each side of the scribe line, which increases stress along the scribe line until the glass material fractures, preferably along the scribe line. This fracture completes the cleaving process of the glass, which can be used in a variety of applications including households.
Although the techniques described above are satisfactory, for the most part, as applied to cutting diamonds or household glass, they have severe limitations in the fabrication of small complex structures or precision workpieces. For instance, the above techniques are often “rough” and cannot be used with great precision in fabrication of small and delicate machine tools, electronic devices, or the like. Additionally, the above techniques may be useful for separating one large plane of glass from another, but are often ineffective for splitting off, shaving, or stripping a thin film of material from a larger substrate. Furthermore, the above techniques may often cause more than one cleave front, which join along slightly different planes, which is highly undesirable for precision cutting applications.
From the above, it is seen that a technique for separating a thin film of material from a substrate which is cost effective and efficient is often desirable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, an improved technique for removing a thin film of material from a substrate using a controlled cleaving action and a patterning technique is provided. This technique allows an initiation of a cleaving process on a substrate using a single or multiple cleave region(s) through the use of controlled energy (e.g., spatial distribution) and selected conditions to allow an initiation of a cleave front(s) and to allow it to propagate through the substrate to remove a thin film of material from the substrate.
In a specific embodiment, the present invention provides a process for forming a film of material from a donor substrate using a controlled cleaving process. The process includes a step of introducing a pattern of energetic particles (e.g., charged or neutral molecules, atoms, or electrons having sufficient kinetic energy) through a surface of a donor substrate to a selected depth underneath the surface, where the particles are at a relatively high concentration to defined a thickness of donor substrate material (e.g., thin film of detachable material) above the selected depth. To cleave the donor substrate material, the method provides energy to a selected region of the donor substrate to initiate a controlled cleaving action in the donor substrate, whereupon the cleaving action is made using a propagating cleave front(s) to free the donor material from a remaining portion of the donor substrate.
The particles may be introduced in a single step, such as by moving a beam of ions across the surface of the wafer in a controlled fashion to form a pattern, or by directing a flux of ions at the wafer through a stencil or patterned layer of masking material (e.g. photoresist). The ion flux may be provided by a conventional ion beam implanter, a plasma immersion ion implanter, or ion shower device, among other sources. Alternatively, the pattern of particles may be created by a combination of implanting steps, such as a uniform implant followed by a patterned implant, the final pattern being a combination of the two implanting steps. The patterned layer of particles facilitates cleaving thin films from a donor substrate while minimizing damage to the crystalline structure of the thin film and while minimizing implantation time, in some embodiments.
The present invention achieves these benefits and others in the context of known process technology. However, a further understanding of the nature and advantages of the present invention may be realized by reference to the latter portions of the specification and attached drawings.


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