Patent ID: 7875531

Claim:
A method for producing a thin substrate with a thickness of less than about 750 microns, comprising: providing a mother substrate, said mother substrate having a main surface and a toughness; and inducing a stress with a predetermined stress profile in at least a portion of said mother substrate, said portion comprising a thin substrate, said induced stress being locally larger than the toughness of said mother substrate at a first depth under the main surface, such that said thin substrate is released from said mother substrate at the first depth, wherein the toughness of the mother substrate at the first depth is not lowered prior to inducing the stress, wherein the first depth is determined by at least one of tuning properties of a stress inducing mechanism and dimensions of a stress inducing mechanism, wherein the stress inducing mechanism is formed by providing at least one layer of stress induction material with at least one predetermined stress induction mechanism on said mother substrate and actuating said at least one stress induction mechanism, wherein tuning properties of a stress inducing mechanism and dimensions of a stress inducing mechanism comprise tuning properties of the stress induction material and dimensions of the stress induction material, and wherein said mother substrate has a side surface and said at least one layer of stress induction material partially extends on and is directly in contact with said side surface of said mother substrate.