Bonding of indium phosphide layers on silicon substrates

Indium phosphide layers were bonded on silicon substrates by indium antimonide and gold based eutectic alloys. Although the thermal expansion coefficient of InSb is the same as that of InP, the bonding did not succeed with this material. When using Au based eutectic alloys, the bonding was successful. Large areas could be bonded homogeneously, and InP solar cells were processed on these structures with good characteristics. Because the solar cell is a minority carrier device, its characteristics are significantly worsened by the dislocations which reduce the minority carrier diffusion length. The bonding method has been applied for transferring InP layers on Si to avoid the formation of misfit dislocations at the interface