11.1 Introduction

A new technology for the integration of dissimilar materials will be needed to meet many of the advanced technological needs of the future. Existing technology does not allow for the integration of dissimilar materials. Current technologies are limited in their ability to integrate materials systems together on a single platform (e.g., a Si wafer that combines applications in microelectronic, optoelectronic, and microelectromechanical systems, or MEMS). If materials processes could overcome this barrier, then new microelectronics, three-dimensional electronics, and the integration of small mechanical systems made from dissimilar materials would become standard.

In 1977, Chu et al. discovered that, when hydrogen ions are implanted into silicon and the sample undergoes a subsequent heat treatment, exfoliation of the silicon layer above the implantation zone occurs (Chu et al. 1977). This effect initially was used to experimentally determine the ion ranges in ion implantation experiments. Almost 20 years later, researchers realized the potential significance of this phenomenon in terms of a promising application: a new layer splitting and layer transfer process, the "Smart Cut" (Bruel et al. 1995) or, as it is more commonly called, the Ion-Cut process (H chbauer et al. 1999, 2000, 2001). The essence of the Ion-Cut process is to preimplant the device wafer with high-dose gas atoms, such as hydrogen, at a well-defined depth before joining it to a handle wafer. Then, on subsequent annealing of the joined pair, complete shearing or exfoliation of the device wafer occurs at the depth of...