Patent ID: 7566629

Claim:
A method of forming a silicon-on-insulator (SOl) layer comprising: providing a silicon substrate; before implanting the silicon substrate with oxygen, forming patterned oxide regions on the silicon substrate; growing a first epitaxial layer of silicon on an exposed top surface of the silicon substrate; and forming nitride spacers on exposed sidewalls of the patterned oxide regions, selectively implanting the silicon substrate with oxygen using a low implant energy to form an ultra-thin patterned seed layer; annealing the first epitaxial layer and silicon substrate implanted with oxygen to form the ultra-thin patterned seed layer; and employing the ultra-thin patterned seed layer to form a patterned SOI layer on the silicon substrate, wherein employing the ultra-thin patterned seed layer to form a patterned SOI layer on the silicon substrate includes growing a second epitaxial layer of silicon on the ultra-thin patterned SOI seed layer.