Patent ID: 8420506

Claim:
A process for cleaving a substrate for the purpose of detaching a film therefrom, which comprises: forming an assembly of a stress-generating structure locally bonded to a substrate surface and designed to expand or contract in a plane parallel to the substrate surface under the effect of a heat treatment, wherein the stress-generating structure is a cellular structure having a plurality of open cells, the walls of the which are perpendicular to the substrate surface; and applying a heat treatment to the structure under time and temperature conditions sufficient to cause the structure to expand or contract so as to generate a plurality of local stresses therein which generates a stress greater than the mechanical strength of the substrate in a cleavage plane oriented parallel to the substrate surface and at a depth in the substrate to define a film to be detached, with the stress facilitating cleavage of the substrate at the cleavage plane to detach the film from the substrate.