Patent ID: 7772087

Claim:
A method of catastrophic transfer of a thin film comprising: preparing a silicon source substrate having a face surface and a silicon oxide layer overlying the face surface; implanting helium in the silicon source substrate, and then implanting hydrogen at a predetermined depth with respect to a face surface of the silicon source substrate to generate defects therein, wherein hydrogen is implanted at a higher implant dose than helium, and wherein the helium occupies the defects; applying a target substrate in intimate contact with the silicon source substrate; applying a heat treatment to the source substrate at a temperature below about 400° C., so as to create a buried weakened zone comprising platelet defects substantially at a predetermined depth, without initiating a thermal splitting of the thin film from the silicon source substrate; and applying a localized amount of energy to only a portion of the buried weakened zone of the silicon source substrate so as to provoke splitting, at the same time, of the entire buried weakened zone of the thin film delimited between the face surface and the buried weakened layer with respect to remaining portions of the source substrate, the thin film having a substantially planar face opposite to the face surface of the source substrate with a surface roughness of no more than about 75 angstroms, as determined by high frequency atomic force microcopy.