Engineered substrate structure for power and RF applications

1. A substrate comprising:

a support structure comprising:

a polycrystalline ceramic core;

a first adhesion layer coupled to the polycrystalline ceramic core;

a conductive layer coupled to the first adhesion layer;

a second adhesion layer coupled to the conductive layer; and

a barrier layer coupled to the second adhesion layer;

a silicon oxide layer coupled to the support structure;

a substantially single crystalline silicon layer coupled to the silicon oxide layer; and

an epitaxial III-V layer coupled to the substantially single crystalline silicon layer.

2. The substrate of claim 1 wherein the polycrystalline ceramic core comprises aluminum nitride.

3. The substrate of claim 2 wherein the epitaxial III-V layer comprises an epitaxial gallium nitride layer.

4. The substrate of claim 3 wherein the epitaxial gallium nitride layer has a thickness of about 5 μm or greater.

5. The substrate of claim 1 wherein the substantially single crystalline silicon layer comprises an exfoliated silicon layer about 0.5 μm in thickness.

6. The substrate of claim 1 wherein the substantially single crystalline silicon layer comprises an exfoliated silicon layer and an epitaxial silicon layer grown on the exfoliated silicon layer, and the substantially single crystalline silicon layer has a thickness of about 0.5 μm.

7. The substrate of claim 1 wherein:

the first adhesion layer comprises a first tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) layer encapsulating the polycrystalline ceramic core;

the conductive layer comprises a polysilicon layer encapsulating the first TEOS layer;

the second adhesion layer comprises a second TEOS layer encapsulating the polysilicon layer; and

the barrier layer comprises a silicon nitride layer encapsulating the second TEOS layer.

8. The substrate of claim 7 wherein:

the first TEOS layer has a thickness of about 1000 Å;

the polysilicon layer has a thickness of about 3000 Å;

the second TEOS layer has a thickness of about 1000 Å; and

the silicon nitride layer has a thickness of about 4000 Å.

9. An engineered substrate structure comprising:

a support structure comprising:

a polycrystalline ceramic core;

a first adhesion layer coupled to the polycrystalline ceramic core;

a conductive layer coupled to the first adhesion layer;

a second adhesion layer coupled to the conductive layer; and

a barrier shell coupled to the second adhesion layer;

a bonding layer coupled to the support structure;

a substantially single crystalline silicon layer coupled to the bonding layer; and

an epitaxial single crystal silicon layer coupled to the substantially single crystalline silicon layer.

10. The engineered substrate structure of claim 9 wherein:

the polycrystalline ceramic core comprises polycrystalline gallium nitride;

the first adhesion layer comprises tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS);

the conductive layer comprises polysilicon;

the second adhesion layer comprises TEOS;

the barrier shell comprises silicon nitride; and

the bonding layer comprise silicon oxide.

11. The engineered substrate structure of claim 9 further comprising an epitaxial III-V layer coupled to the epitaxial single crystal silicon layer.

12. The engineered substrate structure of claim 11 further comprising a plurality of vias passing from the epitaxial III-V layer to the epitaxial single crystal silicon layer.

13. The engineered substrate structure of claim 9 further comprising one or more buffer layers disposed between the substantially single crystalline silicon layer and the epitaxial single crystal silicon layer.

14. The engineered substrate structure of claim 9 wherein the epitaxial single crystal silicon layer is strained.

15. The engineered substrate structure of claim 9 wherein the epitaxial single crystal silicon layer is characterized by a thickness in a range of 1 μm to 20 μm.