The effect of hydrogen implantation in silicon single crystals is studied using high-resolution x-ray scattering. Large strains normal to the sample surface are evidenced after implantation. A simple and direct procedure to extract the strain profile from the scattering data is described. A comparison between different crystallographic orientation of the implanted silicon surface is then presented, namely, for ⟨100⟩, ⟨110⟩, and ⟨111⟩ orientations, showing a dependence that can be related to bond orientation. Effect of annealing on the stressed structure is finally described.

The SmartCut process was first developed to obtain silicon-on-insulator (SOI) materials. Now an industrial process, the main Unibond SOI-structure trends are reported in this paper. Many material combinations can be achieved by this process, because it appears to enable the generic development of new structures. Several of the new structures combining different materials and different bonding layers are described. These include SiGe and strained-Si films onto an oxidized Si wafer, silicon-on-insulating multilayer (SOIM) structures, and InP or 4H-SiC film transfers onto low-cost substrates via metallic or even refractory conductive-film bonding layers. More recently, an original bonding process based on mark patterning, wafer bonding, and layer transfer has been proposed to obtain structures in which the relative crystalline-axis orientations of both the film and the substrate can be controlled accurately. In this case, a SmartCut process that includes a mark-patterning step appears well suited for precise control of axis orientations. A procedure is described to obtain an ultra-thin Si film bonded onto a Si wafer. An example of a pure screwdislocation network achieved by the mark patterning, bonding, and layertransfer process is reported in this paper. The results have important implications for nanostructure development.

We investigate the mechanism of the Si layer transfer in the Smart Cut™ technology for H and He coimplantation in the dose range of (2.5–5)×1016cm−2. Using infrared spectroscopy and cross-section transmission electron microscopy we study the microstructure of defects formed in Si in the as-implanted state. With H preimplant we observe significant enhancement of damage production as compared to the case where He is implanted first. At higher coimplant doses a buried nonuniform amorphouslike layer is formed. The structure of the layer resembles “swiss cheese” with highly damaged but still crystalline pockets embedded into amorphous material. The effect of coimplantation parameters on the thickness and crystal quality of transferred layer is discussed in the framework of a simple phenomenological model.