Controlled temperature implantation

1. A method of reducing surface roughness and improving thickness uniformity in a transfer layer that is transferred from a donor substrate of semiconductor material onto a receiving substrate, which method comprises:

disposing the donor substrate on a circular gasket held by a platen so as to define an enclosed recess between a backside of the substrate and the platen, the circular gasket forming a partial seal between the substrate and the platen;

implanting ions by bombarding a front face of a donor substrate with an ion beam to form, at a predetermined depth in the donor substrate, a layer of weakness that includes microcavities or platelets and that defines the transfer layer between layer of weakness and the front face;

during the implanting, diffusing a cooling gas into the recess and across the backside of the donor substrate, the cooling gas escaping the recess through the partial seal;

bonding the front face of the donor substrate to a face of the receiving substrate; and

detaching the transfer layer by splitting the microcavities or platelets at the layer of weakness in the donor substrate in order to transfer the layer to the receiving substrate;

wherein the gasket enables the cooling gas to better maintain the donor substrate at a mean temperature in the range 20° C. to 150° C. with a maximum temperature variation of less than 30° C. during the implanting to reduce surface roughness and improve thickness uniformity of the transfer layer.

2. The method of claim 1 , which further comprises, during the implanting

measuring the ion beam current; and

adjusting the ion beam in dependence on the measured current so that it has 500 W or less of power.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the ion beam is adjusted in dependence on the ion beam measured current so that it has 300 W or less of power.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the donor substrate, the gasket and the platen are held by a support device that assists in diffusing the cooling gas over the backside of the donor substrate and that maintains the cooling gas at a predetermined pressure.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the cooling gas is diffused towards from the periphery to a center of the backside of the donor substrate.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the support device has a planar surface facing the backside of the platen.

7. The method of claim 4 , which further comprises circulating a fluid through a circuit in the support device to heat the support device to a predetermined temperature in order to reduce radial temperature gradients in the substrate.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cooling gas is selected from helium or hydrogen.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the donor substrate is a semiconductor material selected from at least silicon, germanium, or silicon-germanium.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the implantation comprises co-implanting two different ion species.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the cooling gas enters the recess through an inlet orifice centrally located in the platen and diffuses peripherally.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the cooling gas enters the recess through a plurality of inlet orifices annularly distributed about the peripheral of the platen and diffuses centrally.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the gasket is partially permeable to the cooling gas, and wherein the cooling gas escapes through the partially permeable gasket.

14. The method of claim 1 , which further comprises, during the implanting:

measuring the ion beam current; and

adjusting the ion beam power in dependence on the measured beam current to be less than a limiting power value, the limiting power value being selected to limit the donor substrate temperature to be below a certain mean temperature.