Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
  • H01L31/00—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof
  • H01L31/18—Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment of these devices or of parts thereof
  • H01L31/1892—Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment of these devices or of parts thereof methods involving the use of temporary, removable substrates
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
  • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
  • H01L21/67—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
  • H01L21/683—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for supporting or gripping
  • H01L21/6838—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for supporting or gripping with gripping and holding devices using a vacuum; Bernoulli devices
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
  • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
  • H01L21/70—Manufacture or treatment of devices consisting of a plurality of solid state components formed in or on a common substrate or of parts thereof; Manufacture of integrated circuit devices or of parts thereof
  • H01L21/71—Manufacture of specific parts of devices defined in group H01L21/70
  • H01L21/76—Making of isolation regions between components
  • H01L21/762—Dielectric regions, e.g. EPIC dielectric isolation, LOCOS; Trench refilling techniques, SOI technology, use of channel stoppers
  • H01L21/7624—Dielectric regions, e.g. EPIC dielectric isolation, LOCOS; Trench refilling techniques, SOI technology, use of channel stoppers using semiconductor on insulator [SOI] technology
  • H01L21/76251—Dielectric regions, e.g. EPIC dielectric isolation, LOCOS; Trench refilling techniques, SOI technology, use of channel stoppers using semiconductor on insulator [SOI] technology using bonding techniques
  • H01L21/76254—Dielectric regions, e.g. EPIC dielectric isolation, LOCOS; Trench refilling techniques, SOI technology, use of channel stoppers using semiconductor on insulator [SOI] technology using bonding techniques with separation/delamination along an ion implanted layer, e.g. Smart-cut, Unibond
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
  • H01L31/00—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof
  • H01L31/18—Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment of these devices or of parts thereof
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
  • H01L31/00—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof
  • H01L31/18—Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment of these devices or of parts thereof
  • H01L31/1892—Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment of these devices or of parts thereof methods involving the use of temporary, removable substrates
  • H01L31/1896—Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment of these devices or of parts thereof methods involving the use of temporary, removable substrates for thin-film semiconductors
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
  • Y02E10/00—Energy generation through renewable energy sources
  • Y02E10/50—Photovoltaic [PV] energy
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T156/00—Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
  • Y10T156/11—Methods of delaminating, per se; i.e., separating at bonding face
  • Y10T156/1126—Using direct fluid current against work during delaminating
  • Y10T156/1132—Using vacuum directly against work during delaminating
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T156/00—Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
  • Y10T156/19—Delaminating means
  • Y10T156/1928—Differential fluid pressure delaminating means
  • Y10T156/1944—Vacuum delaminating means [e.g., vacuum chamber, etc.]

Definitions

• the present invention relates to an intermediate suction support and its use for producing a thin layer structure.
• this substrate is brought into intimate contact, by its implanted face with a stiffener and that a heat treatment is applied at a sufficient temperature, an interaction takes place between the microcavities or the microbubbles leading to a separation of the semiconductor substrate into two parts : a thin semiconductor film adhering to the stiffener on the one hand, the rest of the semiconductor substrate on the other hand.
• the separation takes place in the area where the microcavities or microbubbles are present.
• the heat treatment is such that the interaction between the microbubbles or microcavities created by implantation is capable of inducing a separation between the thin film and the rest of the substrate.
• the thin film If the thin film is thick enough to be self-supporting, it can be separated by fracture at the weakened area, from the rest of its substrate, without support. On the other hand, in the opposite case, the separation by fracture of the thin film requires the use of a support or stiffener which allows both the gripping of the film and authorizes the fracture while avoiding the appearance on the surface of blistering film. (or "blisters" in English).
• the stiffeners used are secured to the thin film either by depositing an appropriate layer, or by transferring a support and bonding by molecular adhesion or by an appropriate adhesive.
• the current solution which consists in using a bonding by molecular adhesion requires a surface preparation which can be delicate and expensive.
• the bonding by adhesive of a support does not make it possible to carry out operations at high temperature subsequently on the thin layer, due in particular to the limit of temperature resistance of the organic adhesives, and to the stresses induced by the temperature operations. and contaminations in the case of inorganic adhesives.
• photovoltaic cells are currently produced either from large-grain monocrystalline or multicrystalline semiconductor material (1 mm), or from small-grain amorphous or polycrystalline semiconductor material (of the order of 1 ⁇ m).
• monocrystalline material mention may be made of silicon, GaAs and in general materials of type III-V.
• coarse-grained multicrystalline material silicon may be mentioned.
• amorphous or polycrystalline material mention may be made of amorphous silicon or compound materials such as CdTe or CIS (Copper-Indium-Selenium).
• Solid monocrystalline or multicrystalline materials are expensive and we are trying to reduce their thickness to reduce costs.
• the thicknesses are typically 200 to 300 ⁇ m and it is sought to reduce them to 100 ⁇ . Below 100 ⁇ m in thickness, it becomes very difficult to handle the large area films used to make the cells (> 100 cm 2 ).
• Amorphous or polycrystalline materials have lower conversion yields than monocrystalline materials. For example, for monocrystalline silicon the best yields obtained are 24.8% while the best yields obtained on amorphous silicon are only 12.7%.
• a particularly interesting solution would be to have thin films (from a few ⁇ m to a few tens of ⁇ m) of monocrystalline or multicristalline semiconductor material on a large substrate and of low cost such as glass or ceramic.
• the substrate is then separated at the sacrificial layers of porous silicon by application of mechanical forces.
• This process has some drawbacks: consumption of silicon (the porous layers are sacrificed), the porous layers are formed in several stages so as to have three different porosities, the process is certainly difficult to industrialize.
• the present invention overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art. It makes it possible to obtain a structure comprising thin films
• a low-cost substrate for example glass, ceramic or plastic. It minimizes the consumption of semiconductor material. It is simple to implement and industrialize. It allows reuse to
• a first object of the invention consists of an intermediate suction support, characterized in that
• intermediate support being the face of at least one suction element comprising suction means provided so that, when the weakened layer is subjected to a treatment leading to the separation of the film from the rest of the substrate, the film can be recovered.
• a weakened layer can be a porous layer or a layer in which an implantation of gaseous species has been carried out. Separation treatment (which can be a combination of different
• 10 treatments can in particular be a heat treatment or a mechanical treatment.
• the support of 1 invention makes it possible to avoid the formation of blisters and therefore makes it possible to avoid recovering the film in the form of shavings.
• Support - j e sucking invention therefore plays a holding role, a stiffener and promotes further separation, for example by adding in some cases stresses at the weakened layer.
• the suction element may be made of porous material, the pores of this element constituting the suction means.
• micro-holes constituting the suction means, the distribution of the holes and their size being provided for the recovery of the film.
• the intermediate suction support comprises a wall pierced with holes, this wall supporting at least one suction element, the distribution and the size of the
• 35 plate and the support is obtained by suction and, if the surface condition allows, by molecular adhesion with controlled bonding forces.
• the intermediate suction support comprises a wall pierced with holes, this wall supporting a plate also pierced with holes, the plate supporting several suction elements, the distribution and size of the holes of the elements being provided for allow recovery of the film.
• the suction surface can have a curved, convex or concave shape, making it possible to produce mechanical stress on the film when it is separated from the rest of the substrate. These shapes help promote separation.
• the face of the suction element may be a face allowing molecular adhesion with said first face of the substrate.
• a second object of the invention consists in a process for producing a thin layer structure, comprising the transfer of at least one film onto a support known as a definitive support by means of an intermediate support, characterized in that it includes the following steps:
• the suction surface being the face of a suction element comprising suction means provided so that, when the weakened layer is subjected to a treatment leading to the separation of the film from the rest of the substrate, film can be recovered, - submission of the weakened layer to said separation treatment, the first face of the substrate being secured to the intermediate support by suction, - transfer of the film obtained to the final support,
• the contacting of the first face of the substrate with the suction surface of the intermediate support can be reinforced by molecular adhesion. This adhesion can be controlled by appropriate treatments to allow reversibility of the bonding.
• the final support can support the film by means of molecular adhesion bonding or by means of adhesive bonding.
• the adhesive material can be a flowable material placed on the final support and / or on the thin film.
• the method comprises the transfer of monolayer or multilayer semiconductor films to form a tiling on the final support and the treatment of these films to obtain the photovoltaic cells from these films .
• These films can be, before transfer, partially or completely treated in order to obtain said photovoltaic cells. They can also, after postponement, be treated in order to obtain said photovoltaic cells.
• the films can be transferred onto a support made of a material chosen from glass, ceramic and plastic. It can be done according to a paving having a shape chosen from the shapes rectangular, hexagonal and circular.
• the deferred films can be films of semiconductor material chosen from monocrystalline and multicrystalline materials with large grains.
• FIG. 1A to IF illustrate the production of a structure comprising thin-film photovoltaic cells on a support, according to the present invention
• - Figure 2 shows a first intermediate support 1 according to the invention capable of supporting thin films by vacuum
• - Figure 3 shows a second intermediate support 1 according to the invention capable of supporting thin films by vacuum
• FIG. 4 shows a third intermediate support 1 according to the invention capable of supporting thin films by vacuum
• FIG. 5 shows, in detail, an element of an intermediate support according to the invention capable of supporting thin films by vacuum.
• the invention will now be described, taking as an example the production of a structure comprising thin-film photovoltaic cells on a support.
• FIG. 1A shows a silicon substrate 41 in which a film 44 has been defined by a buried fragile layer containing microcavities 43 obtained by ion implantation.
• the implantation can be carried out on a bare substrate, which has possibly already undergone technological operations, or having a surface texturing.
• the implantation can also be carried out through a layer (oxide or nitride for example) deposited on the substrate.
• the implanted substrates can also undergo technological operations. These operations can have an impact on the fracture conditions, in particular an epitaxy intended to increase the thickness of the silicon film.
• the embrittlement operations by ion implantation must be made compatible with the technological operations. Reference may be made to this document in document FR-A-2 748 851.
• FIG. 1B shows two substrates 41 transferred to a suction support 50 on the side of their films 44.
• FIG. 1C shows the result obtained after separation of the films 44 from their substrates, the separation being for example obtained by heat treatment.
• An epitaxial can then be produced from the free faces of the films 44 and various technological operations can be carried out to obtain the result shown in FIG. 1D. These operations can include making N and P contacts with their associated dopings (or regions).
• the films 44 are then bonded by their faces free on the final support 40 which comprises for example interconnections 48 between cells (see FIG. 1E).
• the final support 40 can be made of glass, ceramic or plastic. Depending on the nature of this final support, bonding can be obtained by means of metal layers, by means of a layer of glass or of low-temperature fluent oxide or of an adhesive substance.
• the intermediate support is removed by stopping the depression and possibly by a slight overpressure allowing easier separation of the intermediate support and the films.
• the thickness of the semiconductor films can be increased, after transfer to a support, by epitaxy. If the support can be brought to a temperature sufficient for the epitaxy, this can be carried out in conventional manner in the vapor or liquid phase. If the support cannot be brought to high temperature (case of silicon on a glass support or of a technology already partially carried out), the thickness of the silicon film can be increased by depositing a polycrystalline or amorphous silicon at low temperature and recrystallize this film by laser heat treatment (fusion of this deposited layer and of part of the thin film of monocrystalline silicon, so as to obtain an epitaxy during cooling).
• the technology for making the cells can be done in the conventional way (heat treatment in an oven) if the substrates and the chosen bonding mode withstand high temperatures. Yes this is not the case (in particular if the final support is made of glass or if bonding with materials that do not withstand high temperatures is used), heat treatments (epitaxial, doping by diffusion, annealing, etc.) can be produced by means of a laser beam, which makes it possible to heat (until liquefaction if necessary) the thin film on the surface, without heating the glass.
• the suction support may include a plate pierced with numerous small diameter holes or a plate of porous material.
• the thin films, placed on the front face of the plate, are held there by creating a depression on the rear face of the plate.
• Figure 2 is a sectional view of a first intermediate support capable of supporting thin films by vacuum. It consists of an enclosure 60, the interior of which can be connected to a vacuum device by means of a neck 61.
• the enclosure 60 has a flat wall 62 pierced with small diameter holes or micro holes 63.
• the size and the spacing of the microholes are determined by the rigidity of the thin films to be handled. The microholes should be smaller and closer as the films are less rigid. Likewise, the surface condition of the wall 62 must be all the better as the stiffness of the film is lower.
• Figure 3 is a sectional view of a second intermediate support capable of supporting thin films by vacuum. It includes, like the intermediate support of FIG. 2, an enclosure 70 provided with a neck 71.
• the enclosure 70 also has a planar wall 72 pierced with holes and supporting a planar plate 73 pierced with microt holes 74.
• the plate 73 fixed to the wall 72 by elements not shown and not disturbing its functions. Distribution and size of the holes in the wall 72 and the distribution and the size of the microholes in the plate 73 are such that the plate 73 provides a uniformly suction active surface.
• This configuration makes it possible to have an appropriate pierced plate, for example having the possibility of producing the microholes by a collective process and / or in a material adapted to the coefficient of thermal expansion of thin films.
• Figure 4 is a sectional view of a third intermediate support capable of supporting thin films by vacuum.
• the enclosure 80 also has a planar wall 82 pierced with holes and supporting a planar plate 83 pierced with holes of smaller diameter.
• the flat plate 83 in turn supports flat parts 84 pierced with micro-holes.
• the diameters of the holes and their spacings in the wall 82, the plate 83 and the parts 84 are such that the parts 84 each offer a uniformly suction surface.
• This configuration has the advantage of greater ease of production and use.
• the parts 84 can be made from the same material as that constituting the films to be transferred. This avoids the problems associated with differential expansions during heat treatments. For example, they can be made of silicon if the thin films are made of silicon. In addition, the production of small silicon parts is easier than the production of a large silicon plate.
• FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an example of a part referenced 84 in FIG. 4.
• This part is said to be flat in the sense that it offers, on the front face side, a flat surface 91 to the film to be supported.
• a piece 84 of silicon can be obtained by etching a silicon wafer 500 ⁇ m thick. Longitudinal cavities 92 1 mm wide and 450 ⁇ m deep are etched from the rear face of the plate. There remains, on the front face side, a thin wall 93 of 50 ⁇ m thickness in which holes 94 are made of 20 ⁇ m in diameter and spaced 100 ⁇ m apart for example. The holes 94 can also be 5 ⁇ m in diameter and be spaced 20 ⁇ m apart. A film of 1 ⁇ m thickness can be maintained on such a part without breaking and having a slight deformation.
• the thin wall 93 can be replaced by a porous film produced for example by anodic oxidation of silicon.
• the thickness of this porous film can typically be 10 ⁇ m.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Condensed Matter Physics & Semiconductors (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
• Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
• Power Engineering (AREA)
• Electromagnetism (AREA)
• Photovoltaic Devices (AREA)
• Recrystallisation Techniques (AREA)

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• 1999
  • 1999-12-13 FR FR9915667A patent/FR2802340B1/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 2000
  • 2000-12-12 US US10/149,316 patent/US20030047289A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2000-12-12 EP EP00993461A patent/EP1238435A1/fr not_active Withdrawn
  • 2000-12-12 WO PCT/FR2000/003482 patent/WO2001045178A1/fr active Application Filing
  • 2000-12-12 JP JP2001545376A patent/JP2003517217A/ja active Pending
• 2005
  • 2005-07-27 US US11/191,290 patent/US7368030B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related

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