Non-destructive Epitaxial Lift-Off

   Compound semiconductors are the basis of modern optoelectronics due to their intrinsically superior optical and electronic properties compared with elemental semiconductors. However,their applications remain limited due to prohibitive substrate costs. Our research has been focused on overcoming this limitation by the development of a non-destructive epitaxial lift-off (ND-ELO) process. ND-ELO allows indefinite wafer reuse by employing epitaxial protection layers, eliminating surface degradation of the parent wafer encountered in conventional ELO. ELO is based on the lift off of the active device region from the parent wafer by the selective etching of a chemically distinct sacrificial layer inserted between active region and substrate.