Work

Efficient electrodynamic stripping for 12-inch wafer-scale freestanding ferroelectric oxide membranes

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Developing an efficient and non-destructive stripping method suitable for most fragile freestanding films is essential for developing industrial semiconductor integration and flexible devices. Here, we propose a novel rapid stripping process of directional electrodynamic decomposition based on the conductive LaNiO3 sacrificial layer, which can effectively overcome the surface tension during solution penetration. Notably, the release rate of oxide films can be increased to 600 mm2/min, which is two orders of magnitude more than that of traditional soaking method, ascribed to the improvement of the adsorption energy and electron transfer by the electric field. The electrodynamic stripping efficiency is not limited by thickness and area size of sacrificial layers and enables non-destructive and scalable fabrication of freestanding films. The crack-free 3-inch freestanding PbZrO3 film represents the largest ferroelectric-based membrane achieved to date, which enables its direct integration into flexible piezoelectric sensor array. Intriguingly, a record-breaking 12-inch polycrystalline membrane has been developed to address the requirements of industrial-scale semiconductor manufacturing. The strain-relaxed PbZrO3 membranes exhibit for the first time the hysteresis loop of the antiferroelectric transition to ferroelectric. This electrodynamic approach with conductive sacrificial layer will greatly improve the stripping efficiency of high-quality functional freestanding membranes, thereby promoting their application in wafer-level electronic devices.

Source: Nature Communications

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-66697-6