Interfacial hydrogen incorporation in epitaxial silicon for layer transfer

Abstract Recently, epitaxial Si layers have attracted strong attention, particularly in photovoltaics. This successful application depends mainly on the easiness of their transfer to a foreign carrier substrate. Therefore, developing a simple and efficient method to realize the transfer is a key issue. A most delicate point is the lift-off of the epitaxial layer from its parent substrate. In this work, we present a method to weaken the interface based on hydrogen incorporation. We have been able to control the hydrogen content at the interface between the crystalline silicon substrate and the epitaxial films by changing the epitaxial growth conditions. Several bonding techniques have been tested and epitaxial Si films have been transferred successfully via anodic bonding. A hydrogen-assisted transferring mechanism is presented.