Thin epitaxial silicon carbide wafer fabrication

A method of fabricating thin epitaxial SiC device wafers comprising:

• bonding a bulk SiC wafer consisting of single crystal silicon carbide to a first substrate to form a bonded bulk SiC wafer and first substrate;
• performing an exfoliation process to the bonded bulk SiC wafer and first substrate such that a first portion of the bulk SiC wafer remains on the first substrate as a seed layer and a second portion of the bulk SiC is separated;
• growing epitaxial SiC on a Si-face of the seed layer remaining on the first substrate after the exfoliation process that separated the seed layer and the second portion of the bulk SiC;
• fabricating devices on a front side of the epitaxial SiC;
• and
• debonding the first substrate from the epitaxial SiC to provide a stand-alone thin epitaxial SiC device wafer, wherein the thin epitaxial SiC device wafer has a thickness of 30-150 μm.

A method of fabricating thin epitaxial SiC device wafers comprising:

• preparing a bulk SiC substrate consisting of single crystal silicon carbide for exfoliation of a donation layer;
• preparing a handle substrate by depositing support and/or bonding material;
• bonding the bulk SiC substrate to the handle substrate such that the donation layer faces the support and/or bonding material;
• performing an exfoliation process such that the donation layer remains on the support and/or bonding material and a remaining portion of the bulk SiC is separated;
• growing epitaxial SiC on a Si-face of the donation layer to form a thin epitaxial SiC wafer remaining on the handle substrate after the exfoliation process that separates the donation layer from the remaining portion of the bulk SiC, wherein the thin epitaxial SiC wafer has a thickness of 30-150 μm;
• forming SiC devices on the thin epitaxial SiC wafer;
• performing a laser liftoff process to remove the handle substrate from the thin epitaxial SiC wafer;
• and
• removing the support and/or bonding material.