Compressive uniaxially strained silicon on insulator by prestrained wafer bonding and layer transfer

Wafer level compressive uniaxially strained silicon on insulator is obtained by direct wafer bonding of silicon wafers in cylindrically curved state, followed by thinning one of the wafers using the smart-cut process. The mapping of the wafer bow demonstrates the uniaxial character of the strain induced by the cylindrical bending. The interfacial properties are investigated by infrared transmission imaging, scanning acoustic microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. UV-Raman spectroscopy is employed to determine the strain in the thin transferred layer as a function of radius of curvature of the initial bending. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.