Gettering technique for silicon-on-insulator wafers
AssigneeSilicon Genesis Corporation
InventorsFrancois J. Henley, Nathan W. Cheung
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A gettering layer in a silicon-on-insulator wafer. The gettering layer may be formed by implanting gas-forming particles or precipitate-forming particles beneath the active region of the silicon layer and thermally treating the gas-forming ions to produce microbubbles or precipitates within the silicon layer. The microbubbles an/or precipitates create trapping sites for mobile impurity species, thus gettering the impurities. In another embodiment, a polysilicon layer is formed on a donor silicon wafer prior to separating a thin layer of silicon from the donor wafer. The thin layer of silicon is bonded to a backing wafer, the polysilicon layer provides a gettering layer between the active silicon and the backing wafer.
Claims26
A wafer comprising:
- a substrate;
- a cleaved semiconductor layer disposed on the substrate, the semiconductor layer having a top surface, the semiconductor layer being bonded to the substrate to form a multilayered substrate structure;
- and
- a gettering layer disposed between the substrate and the top surface of the semiconductor layer wherein the gettering layer provides trapping sites for a plurality of mobile impurity species;
- wherein the gettering layer comprises microbubbles or precipitates to trap a portion of said mobile impurity species.
A wafer comprising:
- a first region of cleaved semiconductor material;
- a second region of semiconductor material having a top surface;
- an insulative layer disposed between the first region of semiconductor material and the second region of semiconductor material, the insulating layer being bonded to the first region of semiconductor material;
- and
- a gettering layer disposed within the second region of semiconductor material between the top surface and the insulative layer;
- wherein the gettering layer comprises microbubbles or precipitates.
A semiconductor device comprising:
- an active region comprising a cleaved substrate region;
- an insulative layer bonded to the active region;
- and
- a first gettering layer disposed between the active region and the insulative layer;
- and
- a second gettering layer of microbubbles disposed between the active region and the first gettering layer.
A semiconductor-on-insulator wafer comprising:
- a cleaved semiconductor layer;
- an insulating layer disposed adjacent to and bonded to the semiconductor layer;
- and
- a gettering layer disposed below the insulating layer;
- wherein the gettering layer comprises microbubbles or precipitates to trap mobile ions from the semiconductor layer.
A semiconductor-on-insulator wafer comprising:
- a semiconductor layer;
- an insulating region disposed adjacent to and bonded to the semiconductor layer such that impurities from the semiconductor layer are gettered by the insulating region;
- wherein the insulating region comprises microbubbles or precipitates to trap mobile impurities from the semiconductor layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.