Patent ID: 8133800

Claim:
A method of fabricating a thickness of silicon material, the method comprising: providing a silicon ingot material having a surface region; introducing a plurality of particles having an energy of about 1-5 MeV and greater through the surface region to a depth to define a cleave region and a thickness of detachable material between the cleave region and the surface region; processing the silicon ingot material to free the thickness of detachable material at a vicinity of the cleave region; causing formation of a free-standing thickness of material characterized by a carrier lifetime of about 10 microseconds and less, a first thickness ranging from about 20 microns to about 150 microns with a total thickness variation of less than about five percent; treating the free-standing thickness of material using at least an etching process; and performing a thermal/passivation process on the free-standing thickness of material to recover the carrier lifetime to greater than about 200 microseconds.