Patent ID: 8222119

Claim:
A method for temperature control during a process of cleaving a plurality of free-standing thick films from a bulk material, the method comprising: providing a bulk material for cleaving, the bulk material having a surface region, a bottom region, a side region having a length from the surface region to the bottom region; clamping the bulk material using a mechanical clamp device adapted to engage the bottom region of the bulk material through a seal with a planar surface of a stage to form a cavity with a height between the bottom region and the planar surface, the planar surface comprising a plurality of gas passageways allowing a gas filled in the cavity with adjustable pressure; sensing the state of the bulk material to generate an input data, the input data comprising temperature information at the surface region and the bottom region and the length of the bulk material between the surface region and the bottom region; maintaining the temperature of the surface region by processing at least the input data and executing a control scheme utilizing at least one or more of; particle bombardment to heat the surface region; radiation to heat the surface region; and gas-assisted conduction between the bottom region and the stage.