A method for preparing a silicon-on-insulator structure comprising a handle wafer, a silicon device laye, a dielectric layer between the handle wafer and the silicon device layer, the handle wafer having an axis, a radius, a front surface, a back surface, and a peripheral edge extending in the axial direction from the front surface to the back surface, wherein the front surface of the handle wafer forms an interface with the dielectric layer, with the handle-dielectric interface and back surface being perpendicular to the axis, and wherein the handle wafer further comprises a surface layer extending in the axial direction from the handle-dielectric interface towards the back surface to a depth, D sl which comprises a high resistivity region in which the resistivity exceeds the resistivity of the handle wafer in the wafer bulk, and a bulk layer extending from the surface layer towards the back surface, the handle wafer having a resistivity profile in which a peak resistivity exists in the high resistivity region, the resistivity generally decreasing from the peak resistivity towards the bulk layer, the method comprising: selecting a handle wafer with a given dopant concentration and interstitial oxygen concentration, the handle wafer being doped with a dopant of a first type, the dopant of the first type being either a p-type or n-type dopant; forming a high resistivity region in the surface layer of the handle wafer in which the resistivity exceeds the resistivity of the handle wafer in the wafer bulk, the high resistivity region being formed by diffusing oxygen either into or out of the handle wafer to form a non-uniform distribution of oxygen in the handle wafer and annealing the wafer having a non-uniform distribution of oxygen to form a non-uniform distribution of thermal donors, wherein, in the case oxygen is out-diffused to form the high resistivity region in the surface layer of the handle wafer, an oxide layer is disposed on the front surface of the handle wafer prior to the oxygen out-diffusion step; and, wherein, in the case the dopant of the first type is an n-type dopant, the high resistivity region is formed by doping the handle wafer with a p-type dopant and diffusing oxygen out of the handle wafer; forming a dielectric layer on at least one surface of a donor wafer and/or the front surface of the handle wafer; bonding the donor wafer and the handle wafer to form a bonded wafer wherein the donor wafer and handle wafer are separated along the axis by the dielectric layer, the dielectric layer forming a donor-dielectric interface between the donor wafer and dielectric layer and a handle-dielectric interface between the dielectric layer and front surface of the handle wafer, the bonded wafer comprising a bond interface located at the donor-dielectric interface, the handle-dielectric interface or in the dielectric layer between the two interfaces; and removing a portion of the donor wafer from the bonded wafer such that a silicon layer remains bonded to the dielectric layer to form the silicon on insulator structure. selecting a handle wafer with a given dopant concentration and interstitial oxygen concentration, the handle wafer being doped with a dopant of a first type, the dopant of the first type being either a p-type or n-type dopant; forming a high resistivity region in the surface layer of the handle wafer in which the resistivity exceeds the resistivity of the handle wafer in the wafer bulk, the high resistivity region being formed by diffusing oxygen either into or out of the handle wafer to form a non-uniform distribution of oxygen in the handle wafer and annealing the wafer having a non-uniform distribution of oxygen to form a non-uniform distribution of thermal donors, wherein, in the case oxygen is out-diffused to form the high resistivity region in the surface layer of the handle wafer, an oxide layer is disposed on the front surface of the handle wafer prior to the oxygen out-diffusion step; and, wherein, in the case the dopant of the first type is an n-type dopant, the high resistivity region is formed by doping the handle wafer with a p-type dopant and diffusing oxygen out of the handle wafer; forming a dielectric layer on at least one surface of a donor wafer and/or the front surface of the handle wafer; bonding the donor wafer and the handle wafer to form a bonded wafer wherein the donor wafer and handle wafer are separated along the axis by the dielectric layer, the dielectric layer forming a donor-dielectric interface between the donor wafer and dielectric layer and a handle-dielectric interface between the dielectric layer and front surface of the handle wafer, the bonded wafer comprising a bond interface located at the donor-dielectric interface, the handle-dielectric interface or in the dielectric layer between the two interfaces; and removing a portion of the donor wafer from the bonded wafer such that a silicon layer remains bonded to the dielectric layer to form the silicon on insulator structure.