Semiconductor growth substrates and associated systems and methods for die singulation
Semiconductor growth substrates and associated systems and methods for die singulation are disclosed. A representative method for manufacturing semiconductor devices includes forming spaced-apart structures at a dicing street located between neighboring device growth regions of a substrate material. The method can further include epitaxially growing a semiconductor material by adding a first portion of semiconductor material to the device growth regions and adding a second portion of semiconductor material to the structures. The method can still further include forming semiconductor devices at the device growth regions, and separating the semiconductor devices from each other at the dicing street by removing the spaced-apart structures and the underlying substrate material at the dicing street.
1. A semiconductor device, comprising:
a substrate material;
a plurality of semiconductor growth regions carried by the substrate material, with individual semiconductor growth regions having a first exposed surface;
a dicing street between neighboring semiconductor growth regions;
a plurality of spaced-apart sacrificial structures in the dicing street, with individual sacrificial structures having a second exposed surface, wherein a composition of the first exposed surface and the second exposed surface is the same; and
a nucleation-inhibition mask in the dicing street between a given one of the sacrificial structures and a given one of the semiconductor growth regions, wherein the nucleation-inhibiting mask is a dielectric.
2. The device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a first quantity of semiconductor material at the first exposed surface; and
a second quantity of semiconductor material grown at the second exposed surface.
3. The device of claim 2 wherein the first quantity of semiconductor material has a generally uniform thickness.
4. The device of claim 1 wherein the growth regions include solid state transducers.
5. The device of claim 4 wherein the solid state transducers include LEDs.
6. The device of claim 1 wherein the growth regions include elements from Groups III and V of the periodic table of elements.
7. The device of claim 1 wherein the sacrificial structures include lines oriented generally parallel to a main axis of the street.
8. The device of claim 1 wherein the sacrificial structures include transmission line measurement elements.
9. The device of claim 2 wherein the first and second quantities of semiconductor material are epitaxially grown.
10. The device of claim 1 wherein the growth regions are unpatterned.
11. The device of claim 1 wherein an offset distance between the given one of the growth regions and the given one of the sacrificial structures is within a range from 5 microns to 15 microns.
12. The device of claim 1 wherein a separation distance between the given one of the sacrificial structures and another one of the sacrificial structures closest to the given one of the sacrificial structures is within a range from 5 microns to 15 microns.
13. The device of claim 1 wherein the sacrificial structures are positioned to attract material that would otherwise be deposited at edge portions of the growth regions.
14. The device of claim 1 wherein a composition of the first and second exposed surfaces is selected to attract a selectively deposited semiconductor material.
15. The device of claim 1 further comprising a test structure including the sacrificial structures.
16. The device of claim 1 wherein the sacrificial structures are evenly spaced-apart parallel lines.
17. The device of claim 1 wherein the sacrificial structures are unevenly spaced-apart parallel lines.
18. The device of claim 1 wherein the sacrificial structures are concentric rings.
19. The device of claim 1 wherein the sacrificial structures are pillars.
20. The device of claim 1 wherein:
the growth regions are first solid state transducers; and
the sacrificial structures are second solid state transducers.