High rate epitaxial lift-off of InGaP films from GaAs substrates

Schermer, J.J.; Bauhuis, G.J.; Mulder, P.; Meulemeesters, W. J.; Haverkamp, E.J.; Voncken, M. M. A. J.; Larsen, P.K.

doi:10.1063/1.126276

Cited by 78 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…The ELO process involves the selective etching of an intermediate AlAs release layer, resulting in thin film cell structures and thus allowing reuse of the wafer. Over the years this research has yielded significant increases in etch rate, 3,4 an increase in sample size up to 4 inch wafers, [4][5][6] thin-film GaAs cells with record efficiencies (26.1%), 7 and the demonstration of its potential for space applications. 8 In recent years the importance of the ELO technology for PV applications has received wide-spread attention, resulting in further increase of the thin-film GaAs cell efficiency to 28.3% 9 and industrial interest for genuine thin-film cell production.…”

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confidence: 99%

Arsenic Formation on GaAs during Etching in HF Solutions: Relevance for the Epitaxial Lift-Off Process

Smeenk¹,

Engel²,

Mulder³

et al. 2012

ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.

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The epitaxial lift-off (ELO) process is utilized to produce thin-film III-V devices, while the substrate (GaAs wafer) on which the III-V structure was grown can be reused. However, so far the direct reuse of these GaAs wafers is inhibited by the remnants on the wafer surface that cannot be removed in a straightforward fashion utilizing general cleaning methods. Therefore, etching of GaAs wafers in hydrofluoric acid was investigated by microscopic techniques, profilometry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It was found that immediately after etching the wafer surface is covered by a brown layer of elemental arsenic. The thickness and uniformity of this layer depend on both illumination during etching and the HF concentration. During storage of the etched wafer the As layer is replaced by As 2 O 3 particles. It is shown that oxide particles form only when the wafer is exposed to light in the presence of air. A model that explains the As formation and the subsequent particle formation is given. © 2012 The Electrochemical Society. [DOI: 10.1149/2.006303jss] All rights reserved. III-V solar cell technology is important in space and concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) applications.1 From a fundamental point of view III-V semiconductors are ideal for solar cell applications. A large range of III-V materials are direct semiconductors allowing for thinfilm cell structures, and III-V compounds can easily be combined into multi-junction cells yielding record efficiencies.2 Present commercially available triple-junction cells for CPV systems reach efficiencies as high as 38%, while current research is aiming to demonstrate efficiencies above 50%.A major disadvantage in the production of high-efficiency III-V solar cells is that they require an expensive single-crystalline GaAs or Ge wafer as a template. After deposition of the solar cell structure the wafer is of no further use for its performance. Nevertheless, using the present fabrication techniques the active thin-film structure including the passive wafer are processed together to a thick solar cell. In order to avoid wasting the substrate, our research group has perfected an epitaxial lift-off (ELO) technique to separate thin-film solar cells from their wafer and transfer them to an inexpensive carrier. The ELO process involves the selective etching of an intermediate AlAs release layer, resulting in thin film cell structures and thus allowing reuse of the wafer. Over the years this research has yielded significant increases in etch rate, 3,4 an increase in sample size up to 4 inch wafers, 4-6 thin-film GaAs cells with record efficiencies (26.1%), 7 and the demonstration of its potential for space applications. 8 In recent years the importance of the ELO technology for PV applications has received wide-spread attention, resulting in further increase of the thin-film GaAs cell efficiency to 28.3% 9 and industrial interest for genuine thin-film cell production. 10-14The aim of ELO is to allow the reuse of the wafer for the production of a large number of thin-film cells ...

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confidence: 99%

Arsenic Formation on GaAs during Etching in HF Solutions: Relevance for the Epitaxial Lift-Off Process

Smeenk¹,

Engel²,

Mulder³

et al. 2012

ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.

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“…Optimization strategies include the preparation of nanoisland-type nanoemitter structures on an insulating, possibly lattice matched film, grown on top of the epilayer, the optimization of interface electronics and the use of non-noble metal nanoemitter materials that are capped by only a thin layer of noble metal catalysts. For technological applications, the use of thin films is mandatory and processes such as CLEFT (cleavage of epitaxial layers for transfer) 87,88 or PEEL (preferentially etched epitaxial liftoff) 89 should be considered. Fig.…”

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confidence: 99%

Photoelectrocatalysis: principles, nanoemitter applications and routes to bio-inspired systems

Lewerenz

Heine

Skorupska

et al. 2010

Energy Environ. Sci.

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An overview on processes that are relevant in light-induced fuel generation, such as water photoelectrolysis or carbon dioxide reduction, is given. Considered processes encompass the photophysics of light absorption, excitation energy transfer to catalytically active sites and interfacial reactions at the catalyst/solution phase boundary. The two major routes envisaged for realization of photoelectrocatalytic systems, e.g. bio-inspired single photon catalysis and multiple photon inorganic or hybrid tandem cells, are outlined. For development of efficient tandem cell structures that are based on non-oxidic semiconductors, stabilization strategies are presented. Physical surface passivation is described using the recently introduced nanoemitter concept which is also applicable in photovoltaic (solid state or electrochemical) solar cells and first results with p-Si and p-InP thin films are presented. Solar-to-hydrogen efficiencies reach 12.1% for homoepitaxial InP thin films covered with Rh nanoislands. In the pursuit to develop biologically inspired systems, enzyme adsorption onto electrochemically nanostructured silicon surfaces is presented and tapping mode atomic force microscopy images of heterodimeric enzymes are shown. An outlook towards future envisaged systems is given.

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“…Performing the ELO process in the chemical reaction rate limited regime is preferred as it can maximize the overall etch rate. In order to do so, several methods with sophisticated setups, for example, weight-assisted ELO 30 and etching assisted by roller 15,31 , were developed to accelerate the ELO process. However, these are only single-wafer solutions with consequent low throughput.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Epitaxial lift-off process for gallium arsenide substrate reuse and flexible electronics

et al. 2013

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Epitaxial lift-off process enables the separation of III-V device layers from gallium arsenide substrates and has been extensively explored to avoid the high cost of III-V devices by reusing the substrates. Conventional epitaxial lift-off processes require several post-processing steps to restore the substrate to an epi-ready condition. Here we present an epitaxial liftoff scheme that minimizes the amount of post-etching residues and keeps the surface smooth, leading to direct reuse of the gallium arsenide substrate. The successful direct substrate reuse is confirmed by the performance comparison of solar cells grown on the original and the reused substrates. Following the features of our epitaxial lift-off process, a high-throughput technique called surface tension-assisted epitaxial lift-off was developed. In addition to showing full wafer gallium arsenide thin film transfer onto both rigid and flexible substrates, we also demonstrate devices, including light-emitting diode and metal-oxidesemiconductor capacitor, first built on thin active layers and then transferred to secondary substrates.

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High rate epitaxial lift-off of InGaP films from GaAs substrates

Cited by 78 publications

References 8 publications

Arsenic Formation on GaAs during Etching in HF Solutions: Relevance for the Epitaxial Lift-Off Process

Arsenic Formation on GaAs during Etching in HF Solutions: Relevance for the Epitaxial Lift-Off Process

Photoelectrocatalysis: principles, nanoemitter applications and routes to bio-inspired systems

Epitaxial lift-off process for gallium arsenide substrate reuse and flexible electronics

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