A process technology for single-crystal silicon-on-insulator sensors and circuits.

A microelectric process technology has been developed to allow the fabrication of high-quality, uniformly thin, single-crystal, Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) films on glass substrates. The process utilizes the electrostatic bonding of silicon to glass to attach a single-crystal silicon wafer to a glass substrate. The silicon wafer is thinned by preferential chemical etching so that films less than one micron in thickness can be fabricated over large areas. The SOI films on the glass substrates have physical and electrical characteristics similar to those of bulk silicon wafers. The electrostatic bonding process has been developed and analyzed and mechanisms that describe the bonding process are proposed. Pre-bond processing of the silicon wafers allows buried etch stops, mobile ion barriers and unique doping structures to be incorporated with the SOI film in ways that are not possible with other SOI technologies. Silicon fabrication technologies have been developed for use with the SOI films fabricated on high-temperature, Corning Code 1729 glass. This glass is matched in expansion coefficient to silicon and is stable for process temperatures as great as 800$\\sp\\circ$C. This allows conventional fabrication techniques to be used in conjunction with the single crystal SOI films. Processes have been developed that allow high-performance MOS transistors to be fabricated in the SOI films. These transistors exhibit the highest electronic mobility (640cm$\\sp2$/V/sec) and lowest leakage current (10$\\sp{-14}$ A/$\\mu$m) of any silicon transistor ever fabricated on glass substrates. A variety of applications that utilize the advantages inherent in this single crystal SOI technology are presented. The inital development work for single crystal SOI Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJTs) is presented. The sensor applications that are discussed include an active matrix Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and a fully integrated miniature pressure sensor.PhDElectrical engineeringUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/161866/1/8812997.pd