Methods and apparatus for cleaving of semiconductor substrates

1. A method of cleaving a substrate in a chamber, comprising:

adjusting a pressure of the chamber to a process pressure;

adjusting a temperature of the substrate to a nucleation temperature of ions implanted in the substrate;

adjusting the temperature of the substrate below the nucleation temperature of ions implanted in the substrate;

maintaining the temperature of the substrate at a soak temperature; and

detecting when cleaving of the substrate has occurred.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

adjusting the temperature of the substrate using microwaves at a fixed power level.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

adjusting the temperature of the substrate using microwaves controlled by a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller interfacing with an infrared sensor.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

adjusting the temperature of the substrate using microwaves with a power level adjusted before, after, or in parallel with a change of the process pressure in the chamber.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the power level of the microwaves is in a range of greater than zero watts to approximately 1600 watts.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

adjusting the temperature of the substrate using microwaves with a single frequency between 2 GHz and 8 GHz or a sweeping frequency at a rate of approximately 750 microseconds between frequencies to approximately 25 microseconds between frequencies.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the sweeping frequency has a range of approximately 2 GHz to approximately 8 GHz.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the sweeping frequency has a range of approximately 5.85 GHz to approximately 6.65 GHz.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

adjusting the temperature of the substrate to the nucleation temperature of ions with a ramping rate of approximately 0.01 degrees Celsius to approximately 15 degrees Celsius.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

pulsing the soak temperature while maintaining the process pressure in the chamber to promote cleaving of the substrate.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

pulsing the process pressure in the chamber while maintaining the soak temperature to promote cleaving of the substrate.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

adjusting the process pressure of the chamber to a range of greater than zero Torr to approximately 770 Torr.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein ions implanted in the substrate include hydrogen, helium, nitrogen, oxygen, or argon.

14. An apparatus for cleaving a substrate, comprising:

a chamber having a multi-faceted microwave cavity for processing the substrate;

a microwave power source coupled to the multi-faceted microwave cavity for heating the substrate during processing;

a controller with proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control for adjusting the microwave power source, process temperature, and process pressure within the chamber, the controller configured to perform a substrate cleaving process including;

adjusting a pressure of the chamber to a process pressure;

adjusting a temperature of the substrate to a nucleation temperature of ions implanted in the substrate;

adjusting the temperature of the substrate below the nucleation temperature of ions implanted in the substrate;

maintaining the temperature of the substrate at a soak temperature; and

detecting when cleaving of the substrate has occurred;

a vacuum source with pulsing capabilities to pulse the process pressure within the chamber; and

a contactless temperature sensor that reads a temperature of the substrate during processing and relays the temperature to the PID controls.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , further comprising:

a cleaving sensor for detecting when a cleaving of the substrate has occurred.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the cleaving sensor includes an acoustic emission sensor, a residual gas analyzer, or a pressure sensor.

17. An apparatus for cleaving a substrate, comprising:

a chamber having a multi-faceted microwave cavity configured to support a substrate to be cleaved therein;

a microwave power source coupled to the multi-faceted microwave cavity, the microwave power source configured to heat the substrate during processing with microwaves of a single frequency or of a sweeping frequency in a range of approximately 2 GHz to approximately 8 GHz;

a vacuum source with pulsing capabilities configured to pulse a process pressure within the chamber;

a contactless temperature sensor that reads a temperature of the substrate during processing and relays the temperature to a controller having proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control configured to adjust the temperature of the substrate with the microwave power source and adjust the process pressure within the chamber with the vacuum source, the controller configured to perform a substrate cleaving process including:

adjusting the process pressure within the chamber;

adjusting the temperature of the substrate to a nucleation temperature of ions implanted in the substrate;

adjusting the temperature of the substrate below the nucleation temperature of ions implanted in the substrate; and

maintaining the temperature of the substrate at a soak temperature until cleaving of the substrate occurs.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , further comprising:

a cleaving sensor coupled to the controller and configured to detect when a cleaving of the substrate has occurred.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the cleaving sensor includes an acoustic emission sensor, a residual gas analyzer, or a pressure sensor.