SOI processing by epitaxial lateral overgrowth

A SOI (silicon-on-insulator) process using ELO (epitaxial lateral overgrowth) is presented that can be used not only to create local area SOI islands but full wafer SOI as well. A thin full-wafer SOI structure formed with merged ELO has been demonstrated. With minor modification, this SOI process can be successively repeated to produce multiple layers of SOI for future three-dimensional application, since ELO has the advantages of low-temperature processing, ease of interlayer connection, and low cost. This process produces SOI material of very low defect density by using selective epitaxial growth of silicon as compared to other conventional SOI techniques