REUSABLE NITRIDE WAFER, METHOD OF MAKING, AND USE THEREOF

• US 20160020284A1
• Filed: 07/21/2015
• Published: 01/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SL Technology Incorporated (Reliv' International, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Soraa, Inc.
• Inventors: D'EVELYN, MARK P., KRAMES, MICHAEL RAGAN
• Granted Patent: US 9,653,554 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 23/025 characterised by the substrate
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 25/18 characterised by the substrate
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 29/406 Gallium nitride
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/0254 Nitrides
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/7813 leaving a reusable substrate, e.g. epitaxial lift off
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/04 characterised by their crystalline structure, e.g. polycrystalline, cubic or particular orientation of crystalline planes characterised by physical imperfections H01L29/30
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/045 by their particular orientation of crystalline planes
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/2003 Nitride compounds
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/36 characterised by the concentration or distribution of impurities in the bulk material within semiconductor regions H01L29/06
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 31/00 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 H10K30/00 takes precedence; devices consisting of a plurality of solid state components formed in, or on, a common substrate, other than combinations of radiation-sensitive components with one or more electric light sources, H01L27/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 31/03044 comprising a nitride compounds, e.g. GaN
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 31/1856 comprising nitride compounds, e.g. GaN
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 31/1892 methods involving the use of temporary, removable substrates
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/0075 comprising nitride compounds
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/0093 Wafer bonding; Removal of the growth substrate
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/32 containing nitrogen
• CPC Class Codes: H01S 5/3013 AIIIBV compounds
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/544 Solar cells from Group III-V materials

Abstract

Techniques for processing materials for manufacture of gallium-containing nitride substrates are disclosed. More specifically, techniques for fabricating and reusing large area substrates using a combination of processing techniques are disclosed. The methods can be applied to fabricating substrates of GaN, AlN, InN, InGaN, AlGaN, and AlInGaN, and others. Such substrates can be used for a variety of applications including optoelectronic devices, lasers, light emitting diodes, solar cells, photo electrochemical water splitting and hydrogen generation, photo detectors, integrated circuits, transistors, and others.

Claims

1. A gallium-containing nitride wafer, comprising:

a crystalline substrate member having at least a diameter greater than about 25 millimeters and a thickness between about 100 micrometers and about 10 millimeters, a substantially wurtzite structure;

a first, epi-ready, large-area surface, characterized by a root-mean-square surface roughness less than about 0.5 nanometer measured over an area of 20 micrometers by 20 micrometers, a surface threading dislocation density less than about 10⁷ cm<sup>−

2</sup>, a stacking-fault concentration below about 10² cm<sup>−

1</sup>, and a symmetric x-ray rocking curve full width at half maximum (FWHM) less than about 100 arcsec,

a second large-area surface, characterized by a root-mean-square surface roughness less than about 10 micrometers measured over an area of at least 20 micrometers by 20 micrometers;

an edge perimeter that is substantially round, with at least one orientation flat; and

at least one regrowth interface, wherein,

the at least one regrowth interface is substantially parallel to the first, epi-ready surface and is separated from the first surface by a distance of at least 10 micrometers;

an average concentration of at least one impurity selected from oxygen, hydrogen, silicon, carbon, fluorine, chlorine, lithium, sodium, and potassium, in a five-micrometer-thick layer on one side of the at least one regrowth interface is higher than an average concentration of the impurity in a five-micrometer-thick layer on an opposite side of the at least one regrowth interface by at least at least five percent and by less than a factor of five; and

an average concentration of at the impurity within a 5 micrometer-thick layer centered at the at least one regrowth interface is greater than an average concentration of the impurity in a five-micrometer-thick layer on opposite sides of the at least one regrowth interface by at least 10 percent and by less than a factor of 10³.

2. The gallium-containing nitride wafer of claim 1, wherein a crystallographic orientation of the first, epi-ready surface is within 5 degrees of (0001) +c-plane.

3. The gallium-containing nitride wafer of claim 1, wherein a crystallographic orientation of the first, epi-ready surface is within 5 degrees of a non-polar or semipolar orientation selected from the {10-10} m-plane, the {30-31} plane, the {20-21} plane, the {30-32} plane, the {30-3-1} plane, the {20-2-1} plane, and the {30-3-2} plane.

4. The gallium-containing nitride wafer of claim 1, wherein the stacking-fault concentration of the first-epi-ready surface is below about 1 cm⁻

1.

5. The gallium-containing nitride wafer of claim 1, wherein,

the average concentration of at least one impurity selected from oxygen, hydrogen, silicon, carbon, fluorine, chlorine, lithium, sodium, and potassium, in a five-micrometer-thick layer on one side of the regrowth interface is higher than the average concentration of the impurity in a five-micrometer-thick layer on an opposite side of the regrowth interface by at least five percent and by less than a factor of two;

and

the average concentration of at the impurity within a 5 micrometer-thick layer centered at the at least one regrowth interface is greater than the average concentration of the impurity in five-micrometer-thick layers on opposite sides of the at least one regrowth interface by at least 10 percent and by less than a factor of 100.

6. The gallium-containing nitride wafer of claim 1, wherein the first, epi-ready, large-area surface is characterized by a surface threading density less than about 10⁵ cm⁻

2, a stacking-fault concentration below about 10 cm<sup>−

1</sup>, and a symmetric x-ray rocking curve full width at half maximum (FWHM) less than about 50 arcsec.

7. The gallium-containing nitride wafer of claim 1, wherein a crystallographic orientation of the first, epi-ready surface is constant to less than about 0.2 degree.

8. The gallium-containing nitride wafer of claim 1, wherein the first, epi-ready surface is characterized by a dimension of at least about 75 millimeters.

9. The gallium-containing nitride wafer of claim 1, wherein the first surface and the regrowth interface are separated by a distance of at least 20 microns.

10. The gallium-containing nitride wafer of claim 9, wherein the first surface and the regrowth interface are separated by a distance of at least 40 microns.

11. The gallium-containing nitride wafer of claim 1, wherein each layer separating regrowth interfaces and the first surface or the second surface or another regrowth interface and each of the at least one regrowth interfaces constitute gallium nitride in which all impurity concentrations are below about 1×

10¹⁹ cm<sup>−

3</sup>.

12. The gallium-containing nitride wafer of claim 1, further comprising at least a second regrowth interface, wherein a first regrowth interface and the second regrowth interface are separated by a distance of at least 10 micrometers.

13. The gallium-containing nitride wafer of claim 1, wherein the first, epi-ready surface has a crystallographic orientation that is miscut from the (0001) +c-plane by between about 0.2 degrees and about 1 degree toward a <

10-10>

m-direction and by less than 1 degree toward an orthogonal <

11-20>

a-direction.

14. The gallium-containing nitride wafer of claim 1, wherein the wafer is heatable to at least 950°

C. for six hours in an atmosphere consisting essentially of ammonia at a pressure of about 760 Torr without undergoing visible degradation.

15. A bulk single-crystal semiconductor wafer, comprising:

a crystalline substrate member having a thickness between about 100 micrometers and about 10 millimeters, a first surface being epi-ready, and first, second and third layers having first, second and third average impurity concentrations, respectively, wherein said second average impurity concentration is less than said third average impurity concentration, and said first average impurity concentration is greater than both said second and third average impurity concentrations;

at least one regrowth interface within said first layer, said regrowth interface being substantially parallel to said first surface and separated from said first surface by a distance of at least 10 micrometers, said regrowth interface having a secondary electron yield higher than that of the material immediately above and below said regrowth interface;

said wafer being heatable to at least 950°

C. for six hours in an atmosphere consisting essentially of ammonia at a pressure of about 760 Torr without undergoing visible degradation.

16. The semiconductor wafer of claim 15, wherein the wafer consists essentially of gallium nitride.

17. The semiconductor wafer of claim 15, wherein the first surface has a crystallographic orientation that is miscut from the (0001) +c-plane by between about 0.2 degrees and about 1 degree toward a <

10-10>

m-direction and by less than 1 degree toward an orthogonal <

11-20>

a-direction.

18. A reusable bulk GaN single-crystal semiconductor wafer, comprising:

a first layer having a first average impurity concentration;

a regrowth interface within the first layer, wherein the regrowth interface has a higher secondary electron yield than that of the material immediately above and below the interface;

a second layer having a second average impurity concentration; and

a third layer having a third average impurity concentration, the first layer lying between the second layer and the third layer;

wherein the second average impurity concentration is within a first range of the third average impurity concentration and the first average impurity concentration is within a second range of both the second and third average impurity concentrations.

19. The reusable bulk single-crystal according to claim 18, wherein the first range is between 0.01 and 0.50 of the third average impurity, and the second range is between 2 and 10,000 of the second and third average impurity concentrations.

20. The reusable bulk single-crystal according to claim 18, wherein the reusable bulk single-crystal semiconductor wafer is heatable to at least 950°

C. for six hours in an atmosphere consisting essentially of ammonia at pressure of about 760 Torr without undergoing visible degradation