Non-Destructive Wafer Recycling for Low-Cost Thin-Film Flexible Optoelectronics
Non-Destructive Wafer Recycling for Low-Cost Thin-Film Flexible Optoelectronics
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DOI：
10.1002/adfm.201400453
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发表时间：
2014-07-16
影响因子：
19
通讯作者：
Forrest, Stephen R.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Lee, Kyusang;Zimmerman, Jeramy D.;Forrest, Stephen R.
化合物半导体是当今使用的许多最高性能的光学和电子设备的基础。然而，由于底物的高成本，它们的广泛商业应用受到了限制。如果在简单、完全无损和快速的过程中重复使用衬底，则可以显著降低设备成本。在这里，展示了一种允许晶片无限重复使用和回收的方法，采用了外延“保护层”、等离子体清洗技术(在外延层去除后将晶片恢复到其原始、原始和外延就绪状态)以及与二次塑料基板的免粘合的组合。这种工艺的一般性是通过制造高性能的GaAs基光伏电池、发光二极管和金属半导体场效应晶体管来证明的，这些晶体管被转移到柔性和轻质的塑料衬底上，然后回收母片用于后续的附加器件层的生长。这一过程潜在地导致了器件成本的变革性变化，这是由于伴随着传统的外延剥离之后的化学机械抛光而不可避免地消耗了晶片。
Compound semiconductors are the basis for many of the highest performance optical and electronic devices in use today. Their widespread commercial application has, however, been limited due to the high cost of substrates. Device costs can be significantly reduced if the substrate is reused in a simple, totally non-destructive and rapid process. Here, a method that allows the indefinite reuse and recycling of wafers is demonstrated, employing a combination of epitaxial "protection layers", plasma cleaning techniques that return the wafers to their original, pristine, and epi-ready condition following epitaxial layer removal, and adhesive-free bonding to a secondary plastic substrate. The generality of this process is demonstrated by fabricating high performance GaAs-based photovoltaic cells, light emitting diodes, and metal-semiconductor field effect transistors that are transferred without loss of performance onto flexible and lightweight plastic substrates, and then the parent wafer is recycled for subsequent growth of additional device layers. This process potentially leads to a transformational change in device cost, arising from the inevitable consumption of the wafer that accompanies conventional epitaxial liftoff followed by chemo-mechanical polishing.