High-Performance Flexible Electronic and Optoelectronic Devices by Mechanical Exfoliation from a Brittle Substrate

In this chapter, we consider high-performance flexible electronic devices based on thin crystalline materials such as silicon and compound semiconductors that are produced through mechanical exfoliation of thin device structures from a host substrate. In those approaches, mechanical exfoliation is achieved by utilizing a particular mode of substrate delamination, referred to as the spalling mode fracture. This mode of substrate cracking was originally considered a failure mode. In recent years, however, there has been an increased research activity to repurpose this phenomenon for producing thin semiconductor films. This chapter discusses the principles of the substrate cracking via spalling mode fracture and its application as a layer transfer technique for making high-performance electronic and optoelectric devices.