Systems and methods for transferring a thin film from a substrate onto another substrate, a layer of the same area as the substrate, of a thickness from sub-micron to tens of micron, and of the thickness and flatness required by VLSI and MEMS applications, and with sufficiently low defect density in the transferred layer are disclosed. The method enables separating a solid layer from a supply substrate and optionally transferring the solid layer onto a target substrate. The method generally includes providing the solid layer on a hydrogen recombination region containing hydrogen-recombination-dopant at a concentration higher than that of the solid layer. The supply substrate includes the solid layer, a mother substrate, and the hydrogen recombination region. The hydrogen recombination region may form a part of the mother substrate or may be separate therefrom. Hydrogen atoms are promoted into the supply substrate to convert the hydrogen recombination region to a hydrogen-embitterment region which is then volatilized to form a void region, thereby separating the solid layer from the remainder of the supply substrate. The supply substrate may be bonded to the target substrate prior to the volatilizing so as to transfer the solid layer to the target substrate. The solid layer may be formed by epitaxial growth or by ion implantation.