1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to a method for fabricating a submicron patterned sapphire substrate, and more particularly to a method for fabricating a submicron patterned sapphire substrate applied in GaN light emitting diode.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Light emitting diode (LED) is a kind of semiconductor devices, at the start LED is used generally for a light source of an indicator light or a display board. However, with the appearance of white light emitting diodes, LED is also used for the function of illuminating. Compared with traditional light source, LED with the advantages of high efficiency, long life and difficult damage, is considered the new light source in 21th century. When exerted with a positive voltage, LED may emit a monochromatic light. And in accordance with the chemical composition of semiconductor materials, LED may emit near-ultraviolet, visible light or infrared light.
However, the luminous efficiency of traditional LED is still inadequate. Therefore, in order to improve the internal quantum efficiency and the light extraction efficiency of a LED, a patterned sapphire substrate is used as the LED substrate. The dislocation density of gallium nitride (GaN) lattice in patterned sapphire substrate may be reduced by epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELOG) to increase efficiency of combination of electric-hole to radiate lights, and further enhance the internal quantum efficiency. On the other hand, by the pattern on patterned sapphire substrate, the light restricted within LED may be extracted with higher probability, so it can enhance the light extraction efficiency of LED.
In the prior art, the line width of the patterned sapphire substrate applied in GaN LED is in a few micron level. In order to further enhance the luminous efficiency, submicron patterned sapphire substrate is applied in light emitting diodes. The method of fabricating a submicron patterned sapphire substrate is to fabricate a photoresist layer having a submicron pattern on the substrate, and then etch the substrate through the photoresist to acquire the submicron patterned substrate. In addition, before fabricating the photoresist, physical vapor deposition (PVD) or chemical vapor deposition (CVD) can be used to fabricate a film as an etching mask layer. The etching mask layer can increase the etching depth of a submicron patterned substrate, so the light has more contact area and then improve the light extraction efficiency.
In the prior art, the method for fabricating submicron patterned substrates can be three ways. The first fabrication method is to lay the nano-spheres on the substrate with polystyrene to be as the etching mask layer. However, the method was difficult to control on the uniformity, and the wafer will result in incomplete. Another method is to use electron beam evaporation to form a nickel layer as etching mask layer on the substrate, and then to anneal the nickel to be in self-assembly. However, this method is time-consuming and could not control the uniformity of the structure. Furthermore, the step-exposure method used commonly in silicon semiconductor fabrication is also available to acquire the submicron patterned substrate. However, the step-exposure method requires expensive equipment and facility.
The above-mentioned method for fabricating submicron patterns had the shortcomings of fabricating incomplete structures of the substrate, time-consuming or high-cost, so it is unfavorable to the fabrication of the submicron patterned sapphire substrate.
Hence, an objective of the present invention is to provide a method for fabricating a submicron patterned sapphire substrate, be simple and stable to fabricate a submicron pattern on a substrate to solve the above issue.
According to a preferred embodiment, a method of the present invention for fabricating a submicron patterned sapphire substrate comprises the following steps: first, forming an etching stop layer on a sapphire substrate; after that, forming a photoresist layer on the etching stop layer; later, making a photo mask to contact with the photoresist layer; next, illuminating the photoresist layer with a beam of light through the photo mask, and developing the photoresist layer to transfer the submicron pattern from the photo mask to the photoresist layer; further, etching the etching stop layer by using the photoresist layer with the submicron pattern as a mask to form a first etching stop layer; finally, etching the sapphire substrate with the first etching stop layer to acquire the submicron patterned sapphire substrate.
In the present preferred embodiment, the photo mask contact directly with the photoresist layer, and therefore light through the photo mask to be able to avoid the diffraction phenomenon leading to a larger scale of a structure and affected uniformity.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a method for fabricating a submicron patterned sapphire substrate to solve the above mentioned issues.
According to a preferred embodiment, the method of the present invention for fabricating a submicron patterned sapphire substrate comprises the following steps: fabricating a master mold, wherein the master mold having a submicron pattern; after that, pouring and filling a flexible material into the master mold to shape a sub-mold, and therefore the sub-mold having a counterpart pattern to the submicron pattern of the master mold; then, pouring and filling an imprinting material into the counterpart pattern of the sub-mold; next, imprinting a sapphire substrate with the sub-mold, and building the imprinting material with counterpart pattern of the sub-mold on the sapphire substrate to form a photoresist layer with the submicron pattern; finally, performing an etching process to the sapphire substrate by using said photoresist layer as a mask to acquire the submicron patterned sapphire substrate.
In the present preferred embodiment, the submicron pattern on the photoresist layer is fabricated by using a mold with a submicron pattern, and therefore can avoid the diffraction phenomenon of photolithography technology of the prior art affecting the photoresist layer.
The advantages and spirit of the present invention can be further understood by means of following invention descriptions and corresponding figures.
Referring to
As shown in
In a present preferred embodiment, the etching stop layer 32 is grown on the sapphire substrate 30 by using physical vapor deposition (PVD) or chemical vapor deposition (CVD). After that, the photoresist layer 34 is coated on the etching stop layer 32 by using spin coating process. Please note that, in practice, the thickness of photoresist layer 34 should be coated as thin as possible for ease of a submicron pattern formation; for example, the thickness of photoresist layer 34 can be between about 0.4 μm to 0.8 μm. Furthermore, the photoresist layer 34 should be kept clean after coating step to avoid surface particles of photoresist layer 34 to form a gap therebetween, and then the particles may cause the diffraction phenomenon to affect the line width of submicron pattern, wherein the surface particles of photoresist layer 34 is resulted from the contact of the photo mask M and the photoresist layer 34.
In step S16, first of all, the photo mask M contacts directly with the photoresist layer 34, and then following photolithography processe is proceeded; hence there is no gap between photo mask M and photoresist layer 34. When a beam of light (such as 365 nm of ultraviolet light) illuminate the photoresist layer 34 through the photo mask M, the diffraction phenomenon resulted from gaps to lead to a broader line width of submicron pattern can be avoided. The contact between photo mask M and photoresist layer 34 is hard contact, wherein the contact method can be referred to
Due to step of soft baking, the photoresist layer 34 can be in the best state of viscosity, and therefore, photoresist layer 34 can be mounted on the etching stop layer 32. Thus it will not fall off. In addition, when the photo mask M contacts with the photoresist layer 34, viscosity of the photoresist layer 34 can make the photo mask M closely contact with the photoresist layer 34 and avoid the gap therebetween.
In the present preferred embodiment, a portion of the photoresist layer 34 illuminated by a light beam is removable in the development process; that is, the fabricated photoresist layer 34 is positive. However, in practice, the photoresist layer can also be negative. Whether the fabricated photoresist layer is positive or negative is determined by user's requirements or designer, and the present invention doesn't specify which one is preferred.
In the above mentioned step S20, an etching system is used and the developed photoresist layer 34, with a submicron pattern, as a mask to etch the etching stop layer 32, such that the etching stop layer 32 and photoresist layer 34 has the same submicron pattern. This etching stop layer 32 with a submicron pattern is defined as the first etching stop layer 320.
Please referring to
In addition, in a present preferred embodiment, in step S22 the first etching stop layer 320 is further removed after the sapphire substrate 30 is etched to obtain a submicron patterned sapphire substrate 3, and the submicron patterned sapphire substrate 3 fabricated by using this method of the present preferred embodiment can directly be applied to GaN LED.
The above mentioned preferred embodiment is to use wet etching method to etch sapphire substrate, and hence the submicron etching patterns have a certain degree of isotropy. However, dry etching process for etching sapphire substrate can also be applied to this embodiment.
Please refer to
As shown in
The method of present preferred embodiment is to fabricate a submicron patterned sapphire substrate 6 by using anisotropic dry etching process, and the cross-section profile can be referred to
Similarly, in the present preferred embodiment, due to the photo mask is directly contacted with photoresist layer, the submicron pattern on the photo mask can be directly transferred to the photoresist layer and the etching stop layer, such that a stop structure with a submicron pattern can be formed. Due to the thickness of etching stop layer 62 plus the thickness of photoresist layer equal to the thickness of stop structure 66, so it is able to perform an etching process and acquire a deeper depth of submicron patterned sapphire substrate 6 by using the stop structure 66. In addition, due to the anisotropic etch of the dry etch and existence of the stop structure, a submicron pattern can be formed on the sapphire substrate.
In the above mentioned embodiment, because the photo mask directly contacts with the photoresist layer, the sub-micron pattern on the mask can be directly transferred to the photoresist layer and the etching stop layer to form an etching stop layer or a stop structure with a submicron pattern. By means of the etching stop layer or the stop structure with a submicron pattern, it is able to easily fabricate a submicron patterned sapphire substrate by using dry etching or wet etching process due to thickness of stop structure includes etching stop layer with the photoresist layer. Compared to prior arts, the method of directly contacting with photoresist layer to the photo mask can avoid the diffraction phenomenon generated from lithography process to affect the line width of submicron pattern. In addition, because this method can be applied to formation of submicron pattern in lithography process, advantages of reduced fabrication cycle time, better structure uniformity, and lower cost can be achieved.
Please referring to
As shown in
In a present preferred embodiment, the master mold 90 can be, but is not limited to, silicon-based material. Additionally, in practice, it is able to use the etching process, such as electron beam or exposure facility to form a submicron pattern 900 on the silicon master mold 90. In the present preferred embodiment, the flexible material being used for forming the sub-mold 92 can be, but not limited to, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). In addition, in the present preferred embodiment, the imprinting material 84 pouring and filling into counterpart pattern 920 of sub-mold 92 is, but not limited to, Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA). As shown in the above mentioned preferred embodiment, the sapphire substrate 80 in the present preferred embodiment can be fabricated by using dry etching or wet etching process to obtain the submicron pattern sapphire substrate 8, the difference between the two etching processes is that dry etching is anisotropic and wet etching is isotropic. In practice, choice of which etching process is determined by requirements of the user or designer, and is not limited by the present invention.
Therefore, by means of the method of the present preferred embodiment, the submicron pattern is formed on the photoresist layer by using a mold, wherein the photoresist layer is provided on sapphire substrate by directly contact. Because the photoresist layer is not processed by using conventional lithography process, diffraction phenomena, which may affect formation of the submicron pattern, can be avoided. Meanwhile, the method of fabricating photoresist layer by using mold is easier, and it is able to avoid time-consuming or high cost shortcomings of prior art.
If there is an etching stop layer on a sapphire substrate, it is able to use the foregoing method to transfer the submicron pattern to the etching stop layer, and to use the etching stop layer with the submicron structure to perform an etching process to the sapphire substrate to obtain a submicron patterned sapphire substrate.
Please referring to
As shown in
In the present preferred embodiment, after the submicron pattern is transferred from the photoresist layer 82 to the etching stop layer 800, the photoresist layer 82 is removed and the sapphire substrate 80 is etched by using the etching stop layer 800 only. However, in another preferred embodiment, the photoresist layer can also be kept and together with the etching stop layer to form a stop structure, and then the stop structure is used to perform an etching process to the sapphire substrate to obtain a submicron patterned sapphire substrate. Hence, after the submicron pattern is transferred from the photoresist layer to the etching stop layer, whether the photoresist layer should be kept or not is determined by requirements of the user or designer, and is not limited by the present invention.
In summary, the method for fabricating a submicron patterned sapphire substrate in the present invention is to use a photo mask to contact directly with the photoresist layer on the sapphire substrate and perform a lithography process, so as to form a submicron structure on the photoresist layer, or to directly use a mold to fabricate a photoresist layer with submicron pattern and to imprint the photoresist layer on the sapphire substrate. Compared to the prior art, the present invention method is able to avoid the effect of diffraction phenomenon in the lithography process, and makes the photoresist layer have an accurate submicron pattern after developing. By means of the present invention method, the submicron patterned sapphire substrate can be obtained by etching the sapphire substrate with the accurate submicron pattern of photoresist layer. In addition, the fabrication of present invention method is easier, so it is able to avoid time-consuming shortcoming and high cost of prior art.
By means of description of the above mentioned preferred embodiments, is hoping to more clearly describe the features and spirit of the present invention, and really not to use the above mentioned preferred embodiments to limit the scope of the invention. On the contrary, the purpose is hoping to cover all kinds of modifications and arrangements with equivalence within the scope of the claims of the present invention seeking to file. Hence, the scope of the claims of the present invention seeking to file should be based on the foregoing description to make the broadest interpretation to cover all possible modifications and arrangements with equivalence.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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099132671 | Sep 2010 | TW | national |