Patent ID: 7202124

Claim:
A method for separating at least one material layer from a substrate comprising: providing a substrate; disposing a tensilely strained monocrystalline layer over the substrate, wherein the tensilely strained monocrystalline layer provides gettering sites for particles; disposing at least one material layer over the tensilely strained monocrystalline layer, thereby forming a donor wafer comprising the at least one material layer, the tensilely strained monocrystalline layer and the substrate; introducing particles through the surface of the donor wafer, to a depth proximate the tensilely strained monocrystalline layer; gettering at least some of the particles within the tensilely strained monocrystalline layer; and initiating and completing a cleaving action proximate the tensilely strained monocrystalline layer, so as to separate at least a portion of the at least one material layer from the substrate.