The present invention relates to a structure on a substrate, in which a structured lacquer layer with lacquer layer surface regions and lacquer-free regions is deposited in lift-off technique, subsequently a color filter layer system is deposited and, lastly, with the lacquer layer surface regions the regions deposited thereon of the color filter layer system are removed.
Such a technique is known as lift-off technique. It is relatively cost-efficient since therein relatively few process steps have to be carried out in a vacuum atmosphere. This technique is known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 3,914,464.
As a lift-off mask a photosensitive lacquer or a metal layer with given thickness of, for example, 4 to 6 μm is deposited and thereover is deposited a dielectric interference color filter layer system of only one half the thickness.
The lift-off lacquer is cured over a long period of time, more than 8 hours at 200° C. in a vacuum atmosphere, before the color filter layer system is precipitated above it. In the lift-off step proper the lift-off lacquer or its structured areas are removed with hot xylene after precipitation of the color filter layer system.
It is evident that the lift-off lacquer layer structure is treated at high expenditures and specifically such that vapor deposition can even be used as the precipitation process for the color filter layer system. In order to ensure satisfactory quality of the precipitated system layers, a vapor deposition temperature of more than 200° C. must be maintained. The subjacent lacquer layer must, in any event, be able to tolerate these temperature without undergoing any changes.
Furthermore, it is known from the literature, for example H. A. MACLEOD, “Thin-Film Optical Filters”, Second Edition, Adam Hilger Ltd., 1986, pp. 357 to 405, that optical layers vapor-deposited at lower temperatures are spectrally unstable. Their spectral properties vary with ambient temperature and humidity, with the cut-on and cut-off edges of the spectral characteristics, in particular, being shifted. If the intent is to precipitate spectrally stable layers with satisfactory quality, the vapor-deposition temperature must be very high which leads to the fact that the subjacent lacquer is polymerized and the subsequent lift-off process is made extremely difficult. On the other hand, if it is attempted to keep the temperature of the vapor-deposition process low, this, as described, is obtained at the expense of strong spectral shifts of said edges, which shifts are a function of the temperature and air humidity.
The long heating of the lacquer in vacuo, proposed in the above cited publication, is, in addition, extremely expensive and reduces significantly the production rate of production installations for such structures. The use of hot xylene for dissolving the lacquer resistant to temperatures, which, by necessity, are relatively high, furthermore is highly questionable in view of the carcinogeneity of xylene. Since, moreover, due to the method of applying the color filter layer system at temperatures far above 200° C., a lacquer layer resistant to these temperatures must be provided, large attack areas for the solvent must be made available for the subsequent removal of the lacquer. Therefore, the lacquer layer thickness must be significantly greater than the thickness of the color filter layer system to be deposited thereon. This results in large disturbed zones; if, following the lacquer application and the structuring of the lacquer layer, a color filter subsystem is deposited in the lacquer regions and those free of lacquer, then, as depicted in
It is, in addition, known that substrate glasses shrink, i.e. change their form, at the temperatures necessary for the vapor deposition of said color filter layer systems. This leads to the fact that the precipitation of color filter layer systems taking place side by side, with differing spectra, such as, for example, for red, yellow and blue, cannot take place with geometric precision which leads to lack of sharpness between filter regions of differing spectral regions. The glass substrate, furthermore, becomes brittle at said high temperatures, in particular taking into account the alternating thermal stress, for example during the sequential precipitation of several color filter layer systems in lift-off technique. This leads to degradation of the stability against fracture of the manufactured structures and therewith also to an increase of disturbed structures.
It would be a further alternative to use a lacquer which endures the requisite high vapor deposition temperatures, thus temperatures in the range of 300° C. However, such lacquers are expensive and difficult to process further. Further, lift-off masks of metal, for example comprising Al or Cr, could be used. Since their application, however, conventionally requires again a vacuum coating step, this would also be too expensive.
Building on a process of the above cited type, it is the task of the invention to remedy said disadvantages. This is attained when carrying out said process according to the invention.
It becomes thereby possible to stress thermally the lift-off lacquer to a significantly lesser degree during the precipitation of the filter layer systems, that is, far below the polymerization temperature of, for example, conventional photosensitive lacquers. Through the proposed plasma-enhanced precipitation process, in which the substrate is exposed to high ion bombardment density, preferably through plasma-enhanced vapor deposition or through sputtering, furthermore filters with dense layers and spectral properties are generated which are temperature and humidity stable. Since the lacquer is thermally significantly less stressed, its necessary thermal resistance can be decisively reduced which, in turn, leads to the fact that a significantly shorter lacquer treatment and significantly reduced lacquer layer thicknesses are required which, in turn, reduces the extension of the disturbed regions 3 according to
The process according to the present invention:
If, without providing additional directing measures, sputtering is used, according to
A more directed coating process than sputtering is the plasma-enhanced vapor deposition in which, as is known, a material is thermally vaporized from a vaporization crucible into the process atmosphere, for example by electron beam vaporization, wherein a plasma is maintained in the atmosphere. Therewith the problem of the shadowing is further remedied, and it becomes also possible to precipitate color filter layer system structures with very small extension under control and with high efficiency.
The proposed process is especially suitable for the color filter structuring for LCD projectors and CCD sensors.
In the following the invention will be explained by example in conjunction with drawings wherein:
EP 508 359 or U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,970; and EP 564 789 or U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,948,224 and 6,149,783.
The layers of the color filter layer systems are each generated either nonreactively, thus exclusively using the working gas AG and/or by a reactive sputtering process and use of a reactive gas RG, such as of O2, for example depending on which layer materials are used. Therein, according to the invention, temperatures of the coated workpieces 15, provided with the lift-off lacquer 11, of maximally 150° C., preferably maximally 100° C., are maintained.
Due to the high ion bombardment density, dense layers are realized which hardly change their spectral properties at varying ambient temperature and humidity.
Without further directing measures, such as providing collimators, the sputter coating according to the invention is suitable for application in which disturbed regions 3 according to
In
In plasma-enhanced or ion-enhanced vapor deposition, according to
A first feasibility of preventing this comprises depositing the first layer of the color filter layer system nonreactively, thus in view of
A second and preferred feasibility comprises according to
In the following, coating processes used by example with the resulting color filter structures will be introduced.
Results:
In this example the intermediate layer has been omitted. The plasma is switched on before the coating proper is started. Therefore the lacquer mask comes into contact with O2/Ar plasma. The edges of the lacquer are thereby rounded. This makes the lift-off step difficult or necessitates a relatively thick lacquer mask.
Through the process according to the invention it becomes possible to produce pixel structures, such as in particular for LCD light valve projectors and CCD sensors, cost-effectively and with low part rejects rate which, in addition, are spectrally extremely stable against environmental changes, in particular temperature and humidity changes. In particular, when using said intermediate layer, moreover, extremely good adhesion of the color filter system on the substrate is attained. The necessary lift-off lacquer layers can be substantially thinner than the twofold of the color filter layer systems deposited thereon. Providing overhanging side walls of the lacquer regions, as is customary in aluminization in the semiconductor production, is superfluous.
Since the application of the color filter layer systems takes place at low temperatures and consequently the subjacent lift-off lacquer structures are exposed to correspondingly low temperature stresses—thus need only have low temperature resistance—an extremely simplified lift-off technique results without hot and extremely aggressive solvents or ultrasound needing to be employed for the lift-off.
The preferred use of said intermediate layer avoids negatively influencing the reactive precipitations of the first filter layer on the lift-off lacquer, in particular the edge damage of the lacquer structures through reactive Ar—O2—H2O plasmas.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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417/98 | Feb 1998 | CH | national |
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/205,088 filed Jul. 25, 2002 and now U.S. Pat. No. ______, which was a divisional of application Ser. No. 09/641,486, filed Aug. 18, 2000, and now U.S. Pat. No. 6,468,703, which was a continuation of international application PCT/CH99/00026 filed Jan. 21, 1999, which claims priority on Swiss application 417/98 filed Feb. 20, 1998, on all of which priority is claimed here, and all of which are incorporated here by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 09641486 | Aug 2000 | US |
Child | 10205088 | Jul 2002 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 10205088 | Jul 2002 | US |
Child | 11076691 | Mar 2005 | US |
Parent | PCT/CH99/00026 | Jan 1999 | US |
Child | 09641486 | Aug 2000 | US |