Meeting: 2019 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
Symposium: Fracture Processes of Thin Films and Nanomaterials
Presentation Title: Analysis of Fracture Surface Morphology in Microscale GaAs and Ge Films
Abstract Scope: Controlled spalling of single-crystal semiconductors is an emerging technique which results in the rapid exfoliation of a single-crystal layer with microscale thickness by propagating fracture parallel to the wafer surface. Spalling fracture has been engineered to controllably and intentionally exfoliate thin-film electronic devices from single-crystal semiconductors for the purposes of creating flexible devices or enabling substrate reuse to mitigate costs. The process uses an adhered stressor layer combined with an externally applied mechanical force to initiate and propagate a lateral fracture parallel to the substrate surface. In this talk, examples will be drawn mainly from spalling (100)-oriented Ge and GaAs single crystals to illustrate the impact of cleavage system alignment on the resulting fracture morphology and spalling conditions. Fractography is used to understand morphological defects in spalled surfaces. Finally, we show that the fracture process does not generate extended defects that inhibit quality regrowth or degrade delaminated cell efficiency.