The present invention relates to an electronic device comprising a micro LED and its transfer method. More specifically, a micro LED transferred using stamping and magnetic field alignment technologies and a manufacturing method thereof.
A transfer process is a process of moving electronic devices into a substrate in which other components are arranged, and is a key technology to implement a micro LED display and the like. Conventionally, a pick-and-place transfer process, which is a method of picking up individual electronic devices and placing them on a desired substrate location, was mainly applied.
However, such a pick-and-place transfer process becomes inefficient and unproductive as it becomes more and more high resolution and large area application, as 24 million LED devices should be arranged in a circuit to implement 4K resolution as a background. In addition, as the size of individual electronic devices and the gap between devices become smaller, the precision of a pick-and-place machine should increase, but the mechanical precision of the machine cannot keep up with miniaturization of devices and degree of integration of circuits, and therefore, there are limitations to transferring micro-sized electronic devices by the pick-and place transfer process.
Therefore, methods and processes that can more efficiently transfer micro-sized electronic devices capable of corresponding to high resolution and large area application are required. Including a method using fluid, methods of transferring and aligning micro-sized electronic devices by various method have been studied, but any one of the methods has not been standardized, which becomes a barrier to commercialization.
An object of the present invention is to solve the afore-mentioned problems, and is to provide a technology of efficiently transferring an electronic device such as a micro LED on an array basis, rather than the conventional pick-and-place transfer process.
However, problems to be solved by the present invention are not limited to those mentioned above, and other problems not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the description below.
In order to solve the afore-mentioned problems, the micro LED array electronic device suggested in one example of the present invention is a micro LED array comprising a plurality of light emitting devices arranged in columns and rows, which comprises two electrodes formed extending in one direction on a substrate; and cured polymers that fill the gap between the electrodes and vertically spaced electronic devices and comprises ferromagnetic particles, wherein the gap between the plurality of electronic devices is 5 μm or more and 100 μm or less.
According to one example, the gap between the electronic devices may be 35 μm or less.
According to one example, it may further comprise two contact pads formed on the electrode direction surface of the light emitting devices, and the polymers may further comprise dispersed scattering nanoparticles.
According to one example, the scattering nanoparticles may comprise metal oxide.
According to one example, the scattering nanoparticles may be at least one selected from the group consisting of TiO2, SiO2, ZnO, Al2O3, BaSO4, CaCO3 and ZrO2.
According to one example, the ferromagnetic particles may be oriented and arranged to electrically connect the electrodes and the light emitting devices.
According to one example, the thickness from the substrate to the electronic devices may be 1 mm or less.
According to one example, the polymer curing of the electronic devices may be performed with a single magnet located at the bottom of the substrate.
According to one example, the lateral surface area of the electronic devices may be smaller than the sum of the lateral surface areas of the two electrodes.
The manufacturing method of a micro LED electronic device suggested in another aspect of the present invention may comprise; preparing a first substrate in which a plurality of electronic device arrays are arranged on one side, and a second substrate in which polymers comprising ferromagnetic particles are formed on one side, respectively; contacting the electronic device arrays of the first substrate and the polymers of the second substrate while controlling an approach speed, to coat the electronic device arrays with the polymers; preparing a third substrate in which electrodes corresponding to the electronic device arrays are formed on at least one side; contacting the polymers coated on the electronic device arrays of the first substrate and the electrodes of the third substrate; arranging the ferromagnetic particles in the polymers by forming a magnetic field between the first substrate and the third substrate so that the electronic device arrays and the electrodes are electrically connected; and curing the polymers so that the state of the arranged ferromagnetic particles is fixed, and the gap between the plurality of electronic devices may be 5 μm or more and 100 μm or less.
According to one example, the approach speed may be 10 mm/min to 1500 mm/min.
According to one example, the approach speed may be 50 mm/min or more.
According to one example, it may further comprise; mixing scattering particles to the polymers before the coating the polymers, and the light emitting devices may further comprise a contact pad on the bottom.
According to one example, the arranging the ferromagnetic particles may be performed using a magnet placed only on either the bottom of the third substrate or the top of the first substrate.
According to one example, the arranging the ferromagnetic particles may be performed without placing a magnet on the top of the first substrate.
According to one example, the thickness from the substrate to the electronic devices may be 1 mm or less.
According to one example, the curing the polymers may be curing only the polymers of some electronic devices selected by supplying power to only electrodes corresponding to some electronic devices among the plurality of electronic devices.
The present invention has advantages of being able to coat polymers on numerous electronic devices at the same time in a single process by using a stamping process, and being able to actively coat polymers on electronic devices without restrictions by process variables such as electronic device size, and device gap. In addition, it has advantages of being able to recycle remaining polymers after stamping, which is advantageous for mass production and repetitive processes. in
Furthermore, according to the example of the present invention, substrate adhesion of defective electronic devices can be prevented without any special means, so automatic identification of defective electronic devices are possible, and selective substrate bonding among arrays can be achieved through selective light emission.
In addition, a stamping process that allows bonding of isolated polymers between each array even when the array gap has a fine pitch.
Moreover, even when a contact pat is introduced into an electronic device, polymers on the bottom of the contact pad is sufficiently cured, and thus, it can make electrical connection and physical bonding between an electrode and the electronic device possible.
In addition, it also has an advantage of being able to easily confirm whether each electronic device emits light during a process, by preparing the electronic devices using magnets placed on only one side.
Moreover, magnetically aligned ferromagnetic particles have anisotropic current flow in which only current in the aligned direction flows. Therefore, only up-down current flow is possible between electronic devices and electrodes, and no electrical short circuit occurs between surrounding LED devices and electrode, so it can respond to fine patterning.
The present invention is a technology with high added value because it can be applied without size restrictions from small displays to ultra-large displays. Accordingly, the electronic device can implement high resolution through a high level of integration, and thus, has high applicability to future displays such as AR, VR and vehicle displays, flexible and stretchable displays and the like.
The effects that can be obtained from the present invention are not limited to the effects mentioned above, and other effects that are not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains from the description below.
Examples of the present disclosure are illustrated for the purpose of describing the technical spirit of the present disclosure. The scope according to the present disclosure are not limited to examples presented below or specific description of these examples.
All technical terms and scientific terms used in the present disclosure have meanings commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure belongs, unless otherwise defined. All terms used in the present disclosure are selected for the purpose of more clearly describing the present disclosure, and are not selected to limit the scope according to the present invention.
Expressions such as “comprising”, “providing”, “having” and the like used in the present disclosure, should be understood in open-ended terms encompassing the possibility of including other examples, unless otherwise stated in a phrase or sentence in which the corresponding expression is included.
Expressions in a singular form described in the present disclosure may include a meaning of a plural form unless otherwise stated, and this is equally applied to expressions in a singular form described in claims.
Hereinafter, with reference to the attached drawings, examples of the present invention will be described. In addition, in the description of the following examples, repeated description of identical or corresponding components may be omitted. However, even if description of a component is omitted, it is not intended that such component is not included in any example.
Referring to
At first, a first substrate in which electronic device arrays are arranged on one side and a second substrate in which polymers comprising ferromagnetic particles are formed are prepared, respectively (S100).
Referring to
The electronic device arrays (110) arranged in the first substrate (100) may be transferred into a substrate in which other components are formed for manufacturing electronic equipment once. The electronic device arrays (110) may be micro LED devices. Herein, the micro LED devices generally refer to devices smaller than 100 μm×100 μm (width×height). However, it is not limited thereto, the transfer method of an electronic device according to the example of the present invention may be applied to not only various sizes and types of micro LED devices (lateral, vertical), bust also other microelectronic devices.
The first substrate (100) may be a glass substrate, but not limited thereto. The first substrate (100) may be a carrier substrate for delivering the electronic device arrays (110) into another substrate, and may be removed after completing the process described below. The first substrate (110) and electronic device arrays (100) may be temporarily connected through an adhesion layer (120). In addition, each electronic device (110) may comprise a contact pad (111) for electrical connection.
The second substrate (200) in which polymers (210) comprising ferromagnetic particles (220) are formed on one side is prepared. The second substrate (200) may be a glass substrate, but not limited thereto. Through blade coating and the like, the polymers (210) may be applied on one side of the second substrate (200). The polymers (210) may be formed on one side of the second substrate (200) to have an area corresponding to the total area of the electronic device arrays (110). Illustratively, the total area of the polymers (210) may be broader than the total area of the electronic device arrays (110).
The polymers (210) coated on one side of the second substrate (200) may be anisotropic conductive adhesives (ACA). In other words, the polymers (210) correspond to substances which can provide mechanical properties and processibility of polymers together with electrical, magnetic, and optical properties of metals by mixing metal particles to a polymer binder. The polymers (210) may be curable polymers, and the current shape may be fixed by being cured under certain temperature conditions or a specific wavelength. Through the polymers (210), physical connection and bonding between other components may be possible. In other words, the polymers (210) may provide an adhesive function that fixes the electronic devices (110) to other components.
The ferromagnetic particles (220) distributed in the inside of the polymers (210) are metal particles, and may provide electrical, magnetic and optical properties of metals. In other words, through the ferromagnetic particles (220), electrical connection between other components may be possible. In addition, the ferromagnetic particles (220) are particles largely affected by an external magnetic field, and the internal location of the polymers may be changed depending on the direction of the external magnetic field. In other words, the arrangement direction of the ferromagnetic particles (220) inside the polymers (210) may be determined by the external magnetic field.
Next, the polymers are coated on the electronic device arrays by contacting the electronic device arrays of the first substrate and the polymers of the second substrate (S110).
Referring to
Through the stamping process as the process described above, as the electronic device arrays (110) of the first substrate (100) and the polymers (200) of the second substrate (220) come into contact, the polymers (210) of the second substrate (200) may selectively move to the electronic device arrays (110) of the first substrate (100).
Referring to
Herein, the second substrate (200) may further comprise a spacer (230) limiting the contact distance with the first substrate (100). The spacer (230) may be formed on one side of the second substrate (200), and may be formed in a region corresponding to the outside of the polymers (210). Exemplarily, the spacer (230) may be formed to correspond to an edge region or corner region of the second substrate (200), but not limited thereto. The spacer (230) may be formed to have a certain height. By this spacer (230), conditions under which the stamping process of the first substrate (100) and the second substrate (200) is performed may be limited. The distance at which the first substrate (100) and the second substrate (200) approach each other, the distance for contact may be limited by the height of the spacer (230). In other words, the degree in which the electronic device arrays (110) and the polymers (210) are in contact, the degree in which the polymers (210) are coated may be determined by the spacer (230). In addition, that the first substrate (100) and the second substrate (200) approach closely may be prevented by the spacer (230), thereby preventing the electronic device arrays (110) from being damaged by the stamping process.
Then, the third substrate in which electrodes corresponding to the electronic device arrays are formed on one size is prepared (S120).
Referring to
The electrodes (310) may optimize the desired pattern size and gap using inkjet printing technology, and a photo process using a mask may also be applied.
Next, the electronic device arrays (110) of the first substrate (100) may be transferred into the third substrate (300). The electronic device arrays (110) of the first substrate (100) may be physically and electrically connected with the corresponding third substrate (300) by being transferring to the third substrate (300). Such a transfer process is performed by contacting polymers coated on electronic device arrays of the first substrate and with electrodes of the third substrate (S130); arranging the ferromagnetic particles in the polymers so that the electronic device arrays and the electrodes become conductive by forming a magnetic field between the first substrate and the third substrate (S140); and curing the polymers so that the state of the arranged ferromagnetic particles is fixed (S150).
As shown in
The polymers (210) coated on the electronic device arrays (110) of the first substrate (100) and the electrodes (310) of the third substrate (300) may be positioned to face to each other, and as at least one of the first substrate (100) and the third substrate (300) moves, the coated polymers (210) and electrodes (310) become in contact. The first substrate (100) and the third substrate (300) may become close so that the polymers (210) can sufficiently move to the electrodes (310). The third substrate (300) may further comprise a spacer (320) that limits such a distance between the first substrate (100) and the third substrate (300), and maintains a certain gap between the first substrate (100) and the third substrate (300). However, it is not limited thereto, in addition to the method of sandwiching a material with a specific height between two substrates, a proper gap between the two substrates may be made also by mechanical equipment capable of controlling movements finely.
In a state in which the polymers (210) sufficiently move to the electrodes (310), a magnetic field is formed between the first substrate (100) and the third substrate (300) and ferromagnetic particles (220) in the polymers (210) are arranged so that the electronic device arrays (110) and the electrodes (310) become conductive. An electrode for forming a magnetic field may be placed on the bottom of the first substrate (100) and the top of the third substrate (300), and a magnetic field may be formed in a vertical direction. The position of the ferromagnetic particles (220) is rearranged in the polymers (210) to correspond to the direction of the formed magnetic field. In other words, the ferromagnetic particles (220) may be self-aligned in the polymers (210) depending on the magnetic field. For example, the ferromagnetic particles (220) are self-aligned in a vertical direction in the polymers (210) depending on the magnetic field formed in a vertical direction. The ferromagnetic particles rearranged in the vertical direction have a pillar shape, and the contact pad (111) of the electronic device arrays (110) and the electrodes (310) are electrically connected to each other by the rearranged ferromagnetic particles.
The polymers (210) may be cured so that the state and shape of the rearranged ferromagnetic particles. When the formed magnetic field is removed, the position of the ferromagnetic particles (220) may be changed again in the polymers (210). In order to prevent such movement of the ferromagnetic particles (220) in the polymers (210), the polymers (210) are cured. As the state of the ferromagnetic particles (220) rearranged through curing of the polymers (210) is continuously maintained, the electrical connection of the electronic device arrays (110) and electrodes (310) may be continuously maintained. In other words, the state in which electrical flow in a vertical direction is fixed, and the ferromagnetic pillar aligned in the magnetic field direction has anisotropic conductive properties, and therefore, no electrical short-circuit occurs between the electrodes and devices.
Furthermore, through curing the polymers (210), the electronic device arrays (110) and electrodes (310) may be physically connected. In other words, through the polymers (210), the electronic device arrays (110) may be physically fixed on the third substrate (300). The polymers (210) may be heat-curable polymers which are cured depending on a certain temperature condition, and the step (S150) may comprise curing the polymers (210) by maintaining a certain temperature for a certain period of time in a state in which a magnetic field is formed. However, it is not limited thereto, the polymers (210) may be photo-curable polymers which are cured by a specific wavelength, and the step (S150) may comprise curing the polymers (210) by irradiating lights of a wavelength band for curing for a certain period of time in a state in which a magnetic field is formed.
In addition, the step (S150) may further comprise transmitting pressure into the first substrate (100) and the third substrate (300) in a vertical direction to compressing so that the vertical distance between the first substrate (100) and the third substrate (300) becomes closer. Through the compressing, physical connection of the electronic device arrays (110) and electrodes (310) by the polymers (210) may be performed more efficiently.
After the curing (S150) the polymers so that the state of the arranged ferromagnetic particles is fixed, detaching the first substrate (100) from the electronic device arrays (110) by removing connection of the adhesive layer (120) and the electronic device arrays (110) is performed. Accordingly, the electronic device arrays (110) is completely transferred into the third substrate (300).
As shown in
The electronic equipment according to other example of the present invention may comprise electronic devices transferred through the transfer method according to the afore-mentioned
Referring to
The present inventors have confirmed that it is impossible to form a separated polymer formation according to the micro-sized electronic devices and fine pitch gap between them, when approaching with only a simple idea of the stamping process, thereby completing the present invention through several times of designs and repeated experiments. Through this, the present inventors can confirm that polymer coating separated by each electronic device can be formed through the stamping process even when the gap between the electronic devices is 100 μm or less. The gap between the electronic devices may be 5 μm or more. In addition, the gap between the electronic devices may be 50 μm or less. Preferably, the gap between the electronic devices may be 35 μm or less.
Referring to
Referring to
In the present invention, the scattering particle is not particularly limited as long as it is a particle capable of scattering light that can cure polymers. The scattering particle may be a nanoscale particle. The scattering particle may be metal oxide, and as one example, the scattering particle may be transparent metal oxide. In addition, the scattering particle may be at least one selected from the group consisting of TiO2, SiO2, ZnO, Al2O3, BaSO4, CaCO3 and ZrO2.
In this way, the present invention proposes an electronic device (micro LED) transfer process technology, and therefore, it is expected to be widely used in fields such as smart fibers in which fibers and LED are combined, medical devices for human body attachment or insertion, bio contact lens, HMD, automobiles and the like, in addition to conventional small to large displays and next-generation displays beyond them.
The present invention examined above has been described with reference to examples illustrated in the drawings, but these are only illustrative, and those skilled in the art can understood that various modifications therefrom and modifications of the examples are possible. However, such modifications should be considered to be within the technical scope of the present invention. Therefore, the true technical scope of the present invention should be determined by the technical spirit of the attached claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10-2022-0187536 | Dec 2022 | KR | national |
10-2023-0193834 | Dec 2023 | KR | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/KR2023/021788 | 12/28/2023 | WO |