Aluminium-Nitride Thin-Films On Polymer Substrates Obtained by Adhesive Bonding

A scalable manufacturing method is demonstrated for the transfer of crystalline AlN thin-films deposited on 200 mm Si wafer onto a flexible and stretchable polymer. The resulting AlN-On-Polymer (AOP) can be bent and stretched. This novel transfer process allows a straightforward strain-engineering method of semiconductor thin-films when transferred onto polymer. Straining controllably semiconductor thin-films may alter their properties, which may boost the performance of the corresponding devices; e.g. the piezoelectric properties of AlN are enhanced upon tensile strain. We present here the transfer process of AlN thin-films onto polymer substrates; we discuss the influence of uniaxial strain on microstructural properties of AOP after in situ Raman spectroscopy assessments and relative strain evaluations by X-ray diffractions of AlN thin-films embedded in different types of stack configurations.

Automated summary

The study demonstrates a scalable manufacturing method for transferring crystalline AlN thin-films from silicon wafers onto flexible polymers and discusses the impact of strain engineering on the properties of semiconductor thin-films.