The disclosure relates to the technical field of light-emitting devices, and more particularly to a micro light-emitting element, a micro light-emitting array, a transfer method, and a display.
At present, a pick-and-place graphic selection scheme is adopted as a mainstream of massive transfer, and a corresponding structure of micro light-emitting diodes (also referred to as MicroLEDs or μLEDs) is a weakened structure with bridge arms, which is difficult to control the yield and has high cost.
In order to solve the problems mentioned in the background, reduce the difficulty of yield control, and reduce the production cost, the disclosure provides a micro light-emitting element. In order to describe the product structure clearly, the micro light-emitting element is defined to include a bottom surface, a top surface, and a side surface. The micro light-emitting element includes a semiconductor layer sequence, a first electrical connection layer, and a second electrical connection layer, with the side surface, the bottom surface and the top surface opposite to the bottom surface, the top surface is a light-emitting surface, and the light-emitting surface herein is a main light-emitting surface of the micro light-emitting element. The micro light-emitting element further includes a substrate disposed below the bottom surface and a transfer adhesive film covering the top surface. The top surface includes a first region and a second region, and the transfer adhesive film is only located in the first region. The first region is located in the second region, and the second region is located around the top surface. Structurally, the top surface has a stepped surface composed of the transfer adhesive film, and a distance between the transfer adhesive film and an edge of the top surface is in a range of 0.2 micrometers (μm) to 2 μm or 2 μm to 10 μm.
In an embodiment, the top surface of the micro light-emitting element includes one of a regular roughened surface and an irregular roughened surface, and the regular roughened surface is typically formed by patterning process.
In an embodiment, the transfer adhesive film is one of a continuous film and a discontinuous film. In a specific embodiment, the discontinuous film may have two or more separate patterns.
In an embodiment, the transfer adhesive film is a granular film, and the granular film with matching properties can be used as a light extraction structure when it is transparent.
In an embodiment, a thickness of the transfer adhesive film is in a range of 0.1 μm to 1 μm or no greater than 0.1 μm. Considering both transfer reliability and transparency, for some smaller sizes of chiplets, if the emphasis is on the reliability, the thickness of the transfer adhesive film is preferably 0.1 μm to 1 μm. In some applications that pursue the brightness, the thickness of the transfer adhesive film is preferably not greater than 0.1 μm.
In an embodiment, in order to match the ultraviolet (UV) laser decomposition of the transfer adhesive film and ensure the transparency to visible light, the transfer adhesive film is configured to transmit light with a wavelength ranging from 400 nanometers (nm) to 750 nm, and absorb at least partially light with a wavelength below 350 nm.
In an embodiment, an edge of the transfer adhesive film is inclined with an inclination angle in a range of 40° to 75°, thereby changing a path of light output.
In an embodiment, a length of any side of a surface of the transfer adhesive film in contact with the top surface is not less than 10 μm.
In an embodiment, a surface of the transfer adhesive film facing away from the semiconductor layer sequence has periodic grooves. The periodic grooves are a process structure after step-by-step laser decomposition of the transfer adhesive film, and a spacing between the periodic grooves is not more than 7 μm. If the spacing is too large, it is not conducive to the transfer of the chiplet after laser decomposition of the transfer adhesive film, which is prone to produce the chiplet rotation offset.
In an embodiment, a material of the transfer adhesive film includes one of polyimide and acrylic adhesive.
In an embodiment, a minimum side length of the micro light-emitting element is in a range of 50 μm to 100 μm or less than 50 μm.
In an embodiment, at least one of the first electrical connection layer and the second electrical connection layer is located on the bottom surface, and the micro light-emitting element is, for example, a flip chiplet or a vertical chiplet, and in some embodiments, it can also be a lateral chiplet.
In an embodiment, the substrate is a circuit board, and the bottom surface of the micro light-emitting diode is fixed on the circuit board.
In an embodiment, a thickness of the semiconductor layer sequence is in a range of 2.5 μm to 6 μm. In the field of micro light-emitting device transfer, a thickness of the epitaxial layer is usually thinner than that of the conventional sized chiplet, and the epitaxial layer is more susceptible to external force damage. Therefore, the product structure is matched and designed in the disclosure.
In the disclosure, a micro light-emitting array is provided and includes multiple micro light-emitting diodes. The micro light-emitting diode includes a bottom surface, a top surface, a side surface, a substrate disposed below the bottom surface and a transfer adhesive film covering the top surface. The transfer adhesive film has periodic grooves on a surface facing away from the semiconductor layer sequence, and a distance between the transfer adhesive film and an edge of the top surface is in a range of 0.2 μm to 2 μm or 2 μm to 10 μm.
In an embodiment, the transfer adhesive film has a roughened surface on a side close to the semiconductor layer sequence.
In an embodiment, a thickness of the transfer adhesive film is in a range of 0.1 μm to 1 μm or no greater than 0.1 μm.
In an embodiment, the transfer adhesive film is configured to transmit light with a wavelength ranging from 400 nm to 750 nm, and absorb at least partially light with a wavelength below 350 nm.
In an embodiment, the multiple micro light-emitting diodes have multiple wavelengths, and the multiple micro light-emitting diodes, for example, include red, green, blue (RGB) three color micro light-emitting diodes.
In an embodiment, an edge of the transfer adhesive film is inclined, with an inclination angle in a range of 40° to 75°.
In an embodiment, a side length of the transfer adhesive film in contact with the top surface is not less than 10 μm.
In an embodiment, the transfer adhesive film has periodic grooves on a surface facing away from the semiconductor layer sequence, and a spacing between the grooves is not greater than 7 μm.
In an embodiment, a material of the transfer adhesive film includes one of polyimide and acrylic adhesive.
In an embodiment, a minimum side length of the micro light-emitting diode is in a range of 50 μm to 100 μm or less than 50 μm.
In an embodiment, at least one of the first electrical connection layer and the second electrical connection layer is located on the bottom surface.
In an embodiment, the substrate is a circuit board, and the bottom surface of the micro light-emitting diode is fixed on the circuit board.
In an embodiment, a thickness of the semiconductor layer sequence is in a range of 2.5 μm to 6 μm.
The disclosure further provides a transfer method for a micro light-emitting array, which can produce the aforementioned micro light-emitting element and micro light-emitting array, specifically including the steps of:
In an embodiment, the method includes step (5) of completely removing the transfer adhesive film.
The disclosure discloses a display made using the transfer method of the micro light-emitting array mentioned above.
The disclosure discloses a display device with a micro light-emitting array, including multiple micro light-emitting diodes. The micro light-emitting diode includes a bottom surface, a top surface, a side surface, a circuit board arranged below the bottom surface and a transfer adhesive film covering the top surface. A distance between the transfer adhesive film and an edge of the top surface is in a range of 0.2 μm to 2 μm or 2 μm to 10 μm.
In an embodiment, the transfer adhesive film has periodic grooves on a surface facing away from the semiconductor layer sequence, and a spacing between the grooves is not greater than 7 μm.
In an embodiment, a minimum side length of the micro light-emitting diode is in a range of 50 μm to 100 μm or less than 50 μm.
In an embodiment, at least one of the first electrical connection layer and the second electrical connection layer is located on the bottom surface.
In an embodiment, a thickness of the semiconductor layer sequence is in a range of 2.5 μm to 6 μm.
The beneficial effects of the disclosure include providing the micro light-emitting diode chiplet structure with high transfer yield, and other beneficial effects of the disclosure will be explained in conjunction with detailed description of embodiments.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure and constitute a part of the specification, and together with embodiments of the disclosure, they are used to explain the disclosure and do not constitute a limitation of the disclosure. In addition, the data in the drawings is a descriptive summary and not drawn to scale.
Description of reference signs are as follows:
111: first semiconductor layer; 111a: first region; 111b: second region; 111′: first mesa; 112: second semiconductor layer; 112′: second mesa; 121: first electrical connection layer; 122: second electrical connection layer; 210: transfer adhesive film; 220: bonding layer; 310: wafer; 320: growth substrate; 330: first transfer substrate; 340: second transfer substrate; 350: carrier board; 360: circuit board; 361: first conductive layer; 362: second conductive layer; circle (i.e., O): laser focusing position; a: tilt angle.
The following illustrates embodiments of the disclosure by means of specific concrete examples, and other advantages and effects of the disclosure can be easily understood by those skilled in the art from the content disclosed in the description. The disclosure can also be implemented or applied through different specific embodiments, and the details in the description can also be modified or altered based on different perspectives and applications without departing from the spirit of the disclosure.
It should be noted that the drawings provided in the embodiments only illustrate the basic concept of the disclosure in a schematic manner. Although the drawings only show the components related to the disclosure and are not drawn in accordance with the quantity, shape, and size of the components during actual implementation, the type, quantity, and proportion of each component can be changed, and the layout of the components may also be more complex.
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The micro light-emitting diode includes a semiconductor layer sequence including a first semiconductor layer 111, a second semiconductor layer 112, and an active layer 113 located between the first semiconductor layer 111 and the second semiconductor layer 112. A first electrical connection layer 121 and a second electrical connection layer 122 are electrically connected to the first semiconductor layer 111 and the second semiconductor layer 112, respectively. The micro light-emitting diode has a side surface and opposite bottom and top surfaces, with the top surface being a light emitting surface. At least one of the first electrical connection layer 121 and the second electrical connection layer 122 is a metal conductive layer, a non-metallic conductive layer, or a combination of the two. The metal conductive layer, for example, includes chromium (Cr), aluminum (Al), titanium (Ti), platinum (Pt), gold (Au), or nickel (Ni), and the non-metallic conductive layer, for example, includes indium tin oxide (ITO) or indium zinc oxide (IZO).
A transfer adhesive film 200 is disposed on the top surface of the micro light-emitting diode (where the top surface mainly refers to the product's light-emitting surface), the transfer adhesive film 200 is located on a wafer 310, which usually plays a role in fixing the chiplets in the related art. Since the conventional transfer adhesive film 200 is a continuous film layer, it is difficult to perform selective transfer. During selective transfer, laser separation of the epitaxial material layer of the micro light-emitting diode is often used. For example, the first semiconductor layer 111 is separated by laser, taking the first semiconductor layer 111 as a gallium nitride (GaN) based material as an example, using laser to decompose gallium nitride materials is prone to generating more gas in a short period of time, requiring a large amount of laser energy, and the difficulty of this problem is not obvious in the transfer process of conventional sized chiplets. The black circles in the
In the first embodiment of the disclosure, based on the above technical problems existing in the related art, the disclosure provides a transfer method for a micro light-emitting array.
Specifically, a transfer method for a micro light-emitting array includes the following steps.
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In this embodiment, to simplify the description, the top surface is the first semiconductor layer 111. In some embodiments, the top surface may include other materials, such as a transparent insulation layer or an insulating reflective layer.
In some implementations of this embodiment, a micro light-emitting array composed of multiple micro light-emitting diodes is bonded onto the circuit board.
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In some embodiments, the transfer adhesive film 210 fixed on a circuit board or other carrier is separated from the second transfer substrate 340 together with the micro light-emitting diode, and then all the transfer adhesive film 210 on the surface of the micro light-emitting diode is removed.
In some embodiments, the transfer method of this embodiment is used to produce display chiplets in the display.
In the second embodiment of the disclosure, in order to improve the transfer efficiency or brightness of the micro light-emitting diode, a micro light-emitting diode is provided, with a minimum side length in a range of 50 μm to 100 μm or less than 50 μm. In this embodiment, the minimum side length of 50 μm of the micro light-emitting diode is used.
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From a top view, the transfer adhesive film 210 is located in a first region 111a on the top surface of the micro light-emitting diode. The top surface also includes a second region 111b, the first region 111a is located in the second region 111b, and the second region 111b is located at the edge of the top surface. The top surface of the micro light-emitting diode has a step formed by the transfer adhesive film 210, and has a protrusion formed by the transfer adhesive film 210. The transfer adhesive film 210 shall not exceed the edge of the top surface (as shown in
When the transfer adhesive film 210 exceeds the edge of the top surface, debris is easily generated during the laser decomposition of the transfer adhesive film 210, resulting in contamination and performance degradation.
In order to solve the stress and light absorption problems of the transfer adhesive film layer 210, it is set that the thickness of the transfer adhesive film 210 is not greater than 1000 nm, and in an embodiment, the thickness of the transfer adhesive film 210 is less than 500 nm. In some embodiments, the thickness of the transfer adhesive film 210 is not greater than 100 nm to minimize the impact of the adhesive material's light absorption. The material of the transfer adhesive film 210 includes polyimide or acrylic adhesive. In some embodiments, in order to minimize the area size of the transfer adhesive film 210 as much as possible while ensuring the adhesion between the transfer adhesive film 210 and the micro light-emitting diode, for example, when the transfer adhesive film 210 accounts for less than 80% of the surface area of the first semiconductor layer 111, or when the contact area between the transfer adhesive film 210 and the surface of the first semiconductor layer 111 accounts for less than 80% of the overall projection area of the micro light-emitting diode, an irregular roughened structure or a regular pattern roughened structure on the surface of the first semiconductor layer 111 facing towards the transfer adhesive film 210 is formed.
In this embodiment, a surface of the transfer adhesive film 210 facing away from the top surface has periodic grooves 211, the periodic grooves 211 are located on the surface of the transfer adhesive film 210, and the grooves 211 are generated by laser decomposition of the adhesive material to achieve chiplet transfer. The spacing between the grooves 211 is not greater than 7 μm. If the spacing between grooves 211 is too large, it is difficult to achieve chiplet transfer and separation, and it is easy to cause the pulling and deviation of the adhesive material.
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The transfer adhesive film 210 can transmit light with a wavelength in a range of 400 nm to 750 nm. In order to realize laser stripping and laser absorbing, the transfer adhesive film 210 at least partially absorbs light with a wavelength less than 350 nm. The material of the transfer adhesive film is polyimide or acrylic adhesive. In addition, in order to address the stress and light absorption issues of the transfer adhesive film 210, it is set that the thickness of the transfer adhesive film 210 is not greater than 1000 nm, and in an embodiment, the thickness of the transfer adhesive film 210 is less than 500 nm. In some embodiments, the thickness of the transfer adhesive film 210 is not greater than 100 nm, minimizing the impact of light absorption on the transfer adhesive film 210 as much as possible.
In order to minimize the area size of the transfer adhesive film 210 as much as possible while ensuring the adhesion between the transfer adhesive film 210 and the micro light-emitting diode, for example, when the transfer adhesive film 210 accounts for less than 80% of the surface area of the first semiconductor layer 111, or when the contact area between the transfer adhesive film 210 and the surface of the first semiconductor layer 111 accounts for less than 80% of the overall projection area of the micro light-emitting diode, an irregular roughened structure or a regular pattern roughened structure is made on the surface of the first semiconductor layer 111 facing towards the transfer adhesive film 210. In order to provide stable adhesion, the side length of the surface where the transfer adhesive film 210 contacts the top surface is not less than 10 μm.
In this embodiment, the transfer adhesive film 210 has periodic grooves 211 on the side facing away from the top surface. The periodic grooves 211 are located on the surface of the transfer adhesive film 210, and the grooves 211 are generated by laser decomposition of the adhesive material to achieve chiplet transfer. The spacing between the grooves 211 is not greater than 7 μm. If the spacing between grooves 211 is too large, it is difficult to achieve chiplet transfer and separation, and it is easy to cause the pulling and deviation of the adhesive material.
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A circuit board 360 is arranged on the bottom surface of the micro light-emitting array of the display, which includes a first conductive layer 361 electrically connected to the first electrical connection layer 121 and a second conductive layer 362 electrically connected to the second electrical connection layer 122. The micro light-emitting array is fixed on the circuit board 360.
The above is only the illustrated embodiments of the disclosure. It should be pointed out that for those skilled in the art, several improvements and replacements can be made without departing from the technical principles of the disclosure. These improvements and replacements should also be considered as the scope of protection of the disclosure.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/CN2021/077100 | Feb 2021 | US |
| Child | 18450440 | US |