Epitaxial Lateral Overgrowth (ELO) of Silicon on the Whole Surface

In order to obtain a SOI layer over the whole surface, techniques using two ELO processes are presented. In the first ELO process, the silicon epitaxial layer grows vertically through openings between the <100> SiO 2 stripes and laterally across SiO 2 stripes. In the second ELO process, the silicon epitaxial layer grows laterally over the new SiO 2 layer linking the SiO 2 stripes at the bottom of the trench etched in the silicon epitaxial layer, between the SiO 2 stripes.