Patent Application
20240038574
The present disclosure is directed to transfer layer with optically-activated, repeatable, and reversible rigid-to-soft transitions to facilitate object (e.g., chiplet) mass transfer. In one embodiment, a transfer system includes first and second optical energy sources operable to provide a respective first optical energy and second optical energy at a respective first wavelength and a second wavelength. The system includes a chiplet having a bonding feature configured to interface with a corresponding bonding feature of a target substrate. At least one of the bonding feature and the corresponding bonding feature absorb at the first wavelength such that applying the first optical energy bonds the chiplet to the target substrate or removes a bond between the chiplet and the target substrate. The system includes a transfer layer formed of a thermally switchable material that undergoes a phase change when heated, the transfer layer being placed in contact with the chiplet during a transfer operation. An optical absorber material is on at least one of the transfer layer and the chiplet. The optical absorber material absorbs at the second wavelength such that applying the second optical energy heats a region of the transfer layer that corresponds to a location of the chiplet when removing the chiplets from a source substrate during the transfer operation. The transfer layer is reusable for repeated transfer operations.
In another embodiment, a method involves causing a transfer layer of a transfer head to selectively remove a chiplet from a source substrate or surface and place the chiplet on a target substrate or surface such that a bonding feature is between the chiplet and the target substrate or surface. First optical energy is applied at a first wavelength through the transfer layer and the chiplet to heat the bonding feature and thereby bond the chiplet to the target substrate or surface. Second optical energy is applied at a second wavelength to heat an optical absorber material proximate a region of the transfer layer that is in contact with the chiplet. The transfer layer is formed of a thermally switchable material such that the region exhibits a phase change in response to being heated. After the chiplet has bonded and while the region is heated, the method involves moving the transfer head relative to the target substrate or surface to release the chiplet, wherein the transfer layer is reusable for repeated transfer operations.
In another embodiment, a method involves applying thermal energy to a first chiplet that is mounted to a target substrate or surface thereby removing a bond between the first chiplet and the target substrate or surface. The first chiplet is removed from the target substrate or surface by physically pushing the first chiplet out of its bonded position and vacuuming the first chiplet away from the target substrate or surface. A transfer layer of a transfer head to selectively removes a second chiplet from a source substrate or surface and places the second chiplet on the bonded position of the first chiplet on the target substrate or surface such that a bonding feature is between the second chiplet and the target substrate or surface. First optical energy is applied at a first wavelength through the transfer layer and the second chiplet to heat the bonding feature and thereby bond the second chiplet to the target substrate or surface. Second optical energy is applied at a second wavelength to heat an optical absorber material proximate a region of the transfer layer that is in contact with the second chiplet. The transfer layer is formed of a thermally switchable material such that the region exhibits a phase change in response to being heated. After the second chiplet has bonded and while the region is heated, the transfer head is moved relative to the target substrate or surface to release the second chiplet.
These and other features and aspects of various embodiments may be understood in view of the following detailed discussion and accompanying drawings.
The discussion below makes reference to the following figures, wherein the same reference number may be used to identify the similar/same component in multiple figures. The drawings are not necessarily to scale.
The present disclosure relates to manipulation and assembly of objects, and in some embodiments the mass assembly of micro-objects via a transfer substrate. Some electronic devices are fabricated by mechanically overlaying small objects on top of each other. While micro-electronic and micro-optical components are sometimes manufactured using wafer formation techniques such as layer deposition, masking, and etching, certain classes of materials are not growth-compatible with each other. In such a case, the assembly may involve forming one class of devices on a first substrate and a second class of devices on a second substrate, and then mechanically joining them, e.g., via flip-chip or transfer printing techniques.
Aspects described herein relate to a system that is capable of transferring large number of micro objects (e.g., particles, chiplets, mini/micro-LED dies) from a donor substrate to another substrate in parallel while maintaining high position registration of the individual micro objects. This system allows selectively transferring of micro objects from a donor substrate and selectively placing the micro objects to the destination or target substrate. This system may be used for assembling devices such as microLED displays.
Generally, microLED displays are made with arrays of microscopic LEDs forming the individual transfer elements. Both OLED displays and microLED displays offer greatly reduced energy requirements compared to conventional LCD systems. Unlike OLED, microLED is based on conventional LED technology, which offers higher total brightness than OLED produces, as well as higher efficiency in terms of light emitted per unit of power. It also does not suffer from the shorter lifetimes or slower temporal response of OLED.
A single 4K television utilizing microLED has −25 million small LED subpixels that need to be assembled. Mass transfer of chiplets is one technology that may be used for microLED manufacturing. Transferring microLED to a target backplane quickly and accurately with a high yield will be one of the techniques that manufacturers need to perfect in order for microLED to be a viable mass-market product.
The techniques described below can be used for microLED manufacture, as well as other assembly procedures in which a large number of (typically) small objects need to be moved at once, and where it may be necessary to selectively move a subset of such device to and/or from the transfer media. Such micro objects may include but not limited to inks, pre-deposited metal films, silicon chips, integrated circuit chips, beads, microLED dies, lasers, waveguides, photonic components, micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) structures, and any other pre-fabricated microstructures. In the present disclosure, these objects may be collectively referred to as “chiplets” in that they are small, individually separable devices or structures amenable to selective mass-transfer from a source to a target.
Being able to selectively transfer chiplets in an arbitrary pattern is useful to facilitate the effective transfer process, pixel repair, hole/vacancy refill for microLED display manufacturing, which will lead to high process yield. An elastomer stamp has been used to deterministically transfer microscale LED chips for this type of application. However, an elastomer stamp has fixed pattern and cannot transfer arbitrary pattern of chiplets. Inevitably, some subset of the chiplets will be defective, and therefore it becomes difficult to replace a select few of them using such a stamp.
In
The present disclosure relates to, among other things, a transfer head with a transfer layer that can be activated at predetermined locations to selectively hold and transfer an array of micro objects on a substrate, or subset thereof. In the latter case, even when the whole transfer layer is in contact with the array of micro objects, only the subset will adhere to the transfer head and be transferred, and the objects outside the subset will be left behind or otherwise unaffected. Similarly, the transfer layer may be able to selectively release a subset of micro objects that are currently attached to the transfer layer, such that only the part of the held objects are released. The transfer layer may non-selectively release the subset as well, e.g., release all chiplets currently held regardless of position. The activation process is repeatable and reversible, such that no permanent bonding or sacrificial material is needed to affect the selective holding or releasing of the objects.
In
For example, the stiffness can be expressed as the Young's modulus of the material from which the transfer layer 304 is made. The Young's modulus is a measure of stress (force per unit area) divided by strain (proportional deformation) in a material in the linear elasticity regime. Generally, materials with higher Young's modulus (lower strain for a stress a) are stiffer than a material with lower Young's modules (higher strain for the same a). Other measures may also be used to represent stiffness of a material, such as storage modulus, which also accounts for dynamic performance of the material. Some measures may be used to represent stiffness of a part, such as a spring constant, that may be functionally equivalent in defining performance of the part. However the stiffness is described, the transfer layer 304 can experience a change in stiffness in response to temperature that can be utilized in device transfer as described below.
The transfer layer 304 has a higher Young's modulus (e.g., >6 MPa) at a lower temperature and a lower Young's modulus (e.g., <1 MPa) at a higher temperature. An optical energy source 308 (e.g., one or more lasers) operable to change a temperature of the regions of the transfer layer in response to an input from a controller 312. In this case, the optical energy source is coupled to heat portions 304a, 304b of the transfer layer 304 (the heating indicated by shading), while portions 304c and 304d are not heated. This example illustrates how the transfer layer 304 can selectively pick up a subset of objects 310a, 310b from a source substrate 316 while leaving a second subset of objects 310c, 310d attached to the source substrate 316.
The heated portions 304a, 304b can deform around the objects 310a, 310b during the heating, and when the optical energy is removed, then the portions 304a, 304b re-solidify holding on the objects 310a, 310b. When the transfer head 302 is moved away from the source substrate 316 as shown in
The apparatus 300 may be part of a micro-transfer system, which is a system used to transfer micro-objects (e.g., 1 μm to 1 mm) from the source substrate 316 to a target substrate. The transfer layer 304 may be formed of a multi-polymer that contains stearyl acrylate. In such a case, a difference between the higher and lower temperatures may be less than 20° C. (or in other cases less than 50° C.) in order to adjust the tackiness of the transfer layer 304 such that there is a marked difference in Young's modulus, e.g., from <1 MPa at the higher temperature to >6 MPa at the lower temperature. The controller 312 in such as a system may be coupled to actuators (not shown) that induce relative motion between the transfer head 302 and substrates to facilitate object transfer as described herein.
Generally, the transfer layer 304 forms an intermediate transfer surface whose compliance can be modulated (e.g., have a sharp rigid-to-soft transition) as a function of temperature. Such a surface can be used to pick up and release groups of micro-objects in a controlled and selectable manner. The optical energy source 308 may be optically coupled to mirrors, lenses, waveguides, and the like to selectively create hotspots on the transfer layer 304. The controller 312 can switch the optical energy source 308 off and on so that only selected regions are heated. The hotspots may have diameter D from sub-micrometers to several hundreds of micrometers and may be adjustable via optics and power inputs to the optical energy source 308. The pitch of the hotspots may vary from sub-micrometers to several millimeters. The base structure 306 may be formed of a transparent material at the wavelengths used by the optical energy source 308, such as glass, quartz, silicon, polymer and silicon carbide (SiC). The base structure 306 may have a thickness that ranges from several tens of microns to several millimeters and lateral dimensions from several millimeters to one meter.
Phase-changing polymer comprising stearyl acrylate (SA) has been studied as a bistable electroactive polymer (BSEP) for use in the transfer layer. The BSEP polymer is a rigid polymer below its glass transition temperature (Tg). Above Tg, it becomes an elastomer that exhibits large elongation at break and high dielectric field strength. Electrical actuation can be carried out above Tg with the rubbery BSEP functioning as a dielectric elastomer. The deformation is locked when cooling down the polymer below Tg. The shape change can be reversed when the polymer is reheated above Tg.
Stearyl acrylate (octadecyl acrylate, SA) based polymers have been investigated as shape memory polymers due to their sharp phase transition between the crystalline and molten states of the stearyl moieties. The abrupt and reversible phase transition of the crystalline aggregates of the stearyl moieties results in a rapid shift between the rigid and rubbery states of the polymers during temperature cycles. The transition of SA is typically below 50° C. with a narrow phase change temperature range of less than 20° C. Therefore, SA is an ideal component for imparting a sharp rigid-to-rubbery transition.
The transfer layer 304 may be made of materials including but not limited to stearyl acrylate (octadecyl acrylate, SA) based polymers, stearyl acrylate and urethane diacrylate copolymer or other types of polymers. In particular, a copolymer containing urethane diacrylate and SA has been found to have desirable characteristics for these purposes. The transfer layer 304 preferably has a sharp rigid-to-soft transition therefore the adhesion can be easily modulated with temperature change.
The transfer layer materials described above are transparent at laser wavelengths commonly used in mass assembly systems, e.g., green and blue lasers. Thus, when using lasers of these wavelengths, the transfer layer 304 may not be directly heat-able by the optical energy source 308 but can instead be heated by an optical absorber that is built into the transfer head or applied to some or all of the chiplets 310a-d. Further, the optical energy source 308 may be able to bond the chiplets 310a-b to a target substrate during assembly and/or unbond the chiplets 310a-b after installation, e.g., to affect a repair. This bond heating can be performed simultaneously with or in series with heating the transfer layer 304, allowing assembly or disassembly in a single operation using the transfer head.
In
In
As shown in
In some embodiments, the bonding of the chiplets 310a-b to the target substrate 500 can sufficient secure the chiplets 310a-b to the substrate 500 such that the chiplets 310a-b will not be removed if the transfer head 302 is pulled away. However, because the regions 304a-b may still be conforming to the chiplets 310a-b, pulling the transfer head 302 away with the transfer layer 304 still holding the chiplets 310a-b could risk damaging the transfer layer 304. Therefore, it is desirable that at least regions 304a-b are heated before pulling the transfer head 302 away. In some embodiments, the residual heat from bonding the chiplets 304a-b may also soften the transfer layer 304 such that there may be a time period after first optical energy 602 is removed that the bonding features 502, 504 have cooled enough to be fully adhered, while regions 304a-b of the transfer layer 304 are still warm enough to be softened. Thus, the transfer head 302 might be moved away from the target substrate 500 (or vice versa) in this time period without risk of damage to the transfer layer 304.
In other embodiments, the transfer layer 304 could be reheated after bonding of the chiplets 310a-b by the optical energy sources 600 using a second optical energy 604 at a second wavelength λ2. Note that λ2 may be the same wavelength shown being emitted in
The transfer layer 304 may be transparent at both the first wavelength λ1 and the second wavelength λ2. Thus, an optical absorber material can be integrated into the transfer head 302 or the chiplets 310a-b to facilitate heating the transfer layer using the second optical energy 604 at the second wavelength λ2, and this optical absorber may still be transparent at the first wavelength λ1. In one or more embodiments, an optical absorber layer (e.g., patterned or unpatterned) can be thermally coupled to a side of the transfer layer 304 facing away from the chiplets 310a-b, and this absorber layer heats the regions 304a-b when illuminated by the energy sources 308, 600. In other embodiments, an optically absorbing material can be mixed in with the thermally switchable material of the transfer layer 304. These embodiments are more fully described in commonly owned U.S.
Patent Application ______/______(Attorney docket 20220062US01/0600.000403US01) filed on even date herewith, which is incorporated by reference.
In one or more other embodiments, an optical absorber material can be applied to inward facing and/or outward facing sides of the chiplets 310a-b. The optical absorber material may be selectively applied to chiplets 310a-b while be omitted from chiplets 310c-d, such that selective application of optical energy is not needed to heat regions 304a-b without heating regions 304c-d as shown in
In
An optical absorber material (not shown) is proximate the chiplets 706, 707 and/or the transfer layer 702, according to any configurations described above. One or more optical energy sources 714 are operable to apply first and second optical energy 713, 715 (e.g., scanned laser beams) to the transfer head 701. During the removal of the chiplets 706, 707 from the source substrate or surface, the second optical energy 715 selectively heats the transfer layer 702 (via the optical absorber material) at regions 718, 719 which correspond to location of the chiplets 706, 707. The regions 718, 719 hold the chiplet when the optical energy 715 is removed during the this first part of the transfer operation, e.g., after a phase change in region 718 has caused the switchable material to conform to and grip the chiplets 706, 707. The transfer layer 702 is held and supported by a base structure such as a substrate 720. The substrate 720 may be transparent at the wavelength of the optical energy 713, 715, or may have other features (e.g., voids) that allow the optical energy 715 to pass to the optical absorber material.
Removal of the optical energy 715 causes the switchable material to harden in while gripping the chiplets 706, 707, such that when the transfer head 701 is pulled away from the source substrate or surface, the chiplets 706, 707 are removed. After removal of the targeted chiplets 706, 707 from the source substrate or surface, the transfer head 701 can then be moved to the target substrate or surface 708 where the chiplets 706, 707 are placed. This placement onto the target substrate or surface 708 is shown in
As seen in
The chiplets 706, 707 are transparent to the first optical energy 713, such that when the first optical energy 713 is applied, it is absorbed by the bonding features 710, 711. This causes melting, adhesion, welding, fusing, etc., of the bonding features 710, 711 causing the chiplets 706, 707, to bond to the target substrate or surface 708. After cooling of the bonding features 710, 711, the associated regions 718, 719 can be subsequently heated via the optical absorber material or by some other means to release the chiplets 706, 707 from the transfer head 701. The selectable holding and releasing of the chiplet 706 by the transfer layer 702 can be repeated for multiple chiplets during multiple operations. It is frequently desirable to perform a thermal cycle between transfer operations to recondition the transfer layer 702 and to smooth out surface features formed on transfer layer 702 during the previous operation. This involves, for example, heating and cooling the transfer layer above and below Tg one or more times while no objects are attached to the transfer layer.
Note that when releasing the chiplets 706, 707 from the transfer head 701, selective heating of the transfer layer 702 may not be needed since all chiplets currently on the transfer head 701 may be released at once. In such case, the entire transfer layer may be heated, e.g., via non-selective application of the optical energy or alternate means. The selective or non-selective subsequent means for releasing chiplets include laser irradiation, optical exposure, infrared lamp heating, electrical joule heating, inductive heating, RF heating, hot plate heating, conductive heating, convection heating, forced air, or a combination of different means. In some embodiment where the counterforce from bonding features 710, 711 is stronger than the unheated holding force of 718, 719, subsequent heating of regions 718 and 719 may not be performed during the chiplet release step.
The system 700 can also be used to remove an installed chiplet, e.g., to remove a failed chiplet 706 that was previously bonded to the target substrate or surface 708. In such a case, transfer head 701 is moved to contact the chiplet 706, after which the second optical energy 715 can be applied to cause the region 718 region to conform and hold the chiplet 706. In this case, if chiplet 707 is not to be removed for example, region 719 would not be heated. After the region 718 cools, the first optical energy 713 can be applied to soften or melt the bonding feature 710. When the bonding feature 710 has been heated sufficiently for separation (e.g., bonding forces have been reduced or removed), one or both of the transfer head 701 and target substrate or surface 708 are moved away from each other, and the chiplet 706 is then pulled away from the target substrate or surface 708.
In other embodiments, the chiplet 706 can be removed by a mechanism different than the transfer head 701. For example, the chiplet 706 can be selectively heated (e.g., via a laser) and physically dislodged (e.g., using a probe or vacuum) to loosen or break the bond that holds the chiplet to the target substrate or surface 708. The chiplet 706 can then be removed (e.g., via a vacuum) leaving the bonding position open for installing a second chiplet (not shown) which can be transferred from a source substrate and attached to the target substrate or surface 708 as described above.
Generally, the system 700 shown in
In one or more embodiments, the transfer head 701 utilizes a long pass color filter 722 as the absorber material. In one embodiment, the transfer layer 702 may have wavelength selective, optically absorbing materials mixed in, such that the transfer layer 702 also acts as the color filter 722. The optically absorbing material can be wavelength selective or can be designed to have band-pass properties that is absorbing across certain wavelength ranges and transparent to light at other wavelength ranges. In other embodiments, the color filter 722 can be a semiconductor optical absorber layer that is absorbing to light at wavelengths above the bandgap energy and transparent to light at wavelengths below the bandgap energy. In other embodiments, a color filtering absorber material may be applied to an outward facing surface of the chiplets 706, 707.
A shorter wavelength laser light 715, e.g., 445 nm, can be absorbed in the color filter 722 and is used for generating heat that selectively activates the transfer layer material. A second overlapping longer wavelength laser light 713, e.g., 1065 nm, passes through the filter 722, through the transfer layer 702, and through the chiplets 706, to then reach metal contact pads or other parts of the bonding features 710, 711. In
In
The movable mirror 906 is shown rotating as indicated by the arrow 907. A single axis rotation such as the illustrated z-axis rotation can facilitate scanning along a single row of a rectangular matrix of chiplets located below the transfer layer 900. The mirror 906 and motor 908 can also be configured to rotate about a second axis, e.g., the z-axis, to scan an adjacent row. A second mirror and motor (not shown) may also be used to affect a change in rows. In other embodiments, the mirror 906 and motor 908 could be configured to rotate about the y-axis, thereby resulting in a polar coordinate pattern being illuminated. Translations of mirrors may also be used instead of or in addition to the rotations described above.
One or more controllers 910 are coupled to the one or more motors 908 and facilitates precise movement of the mirror 906, e.g., via servo control. The controller(s) 910 also control output of the lasers 902, such that a spot on the transfer layer 900 is illuminated or not-illuminated based on whether heating is desired at a current location at which the laser beam is aimed. This can be achieved by turning the lasers 902 off and on, activating a shutter that blocks or redirects light emitted from the laser, etc.
The configuration shown in
In
In
In
A transfer layer of a transfer head to selectively removes 1202 a second chiplet from a source substrate or surface and places the second chiplet on the bonded position of the first chiplet on the target substrate or surface such that a bonding feature is between the second chiplet and the target substrate or surface. First optical energy at a first wavelength is applied 1203 through the transfer layer and the second chiplet to heat the bonding feature and thereby bond the second chiplet to the target substrate or surface. Second optical energy at a second wavelength is applied 1204 to heat an optical absorber material proximate a region of the transfer layer that is in contact with the second chiplet. The transfer layer formed of a thermally switchable material such that the region exhibits a phase change in response to being heated. After the second chiplet has bonded and while the region is heated, the transfer head is moved 1205 relative to the target substrate or surface to release the second chiplet
Unless otherwise indicated, all numbers expressing feature sizes, amounts, and physical properties used in the specification and claims are to be understood as being modified in all instances by the term “about.” Accordingly, unless indicated to the contrary, the numerical parameters set forth in the foregoing specification and attached claims are approximations that can vary depending upon the desired properties sought to be obtained by those skilled in the art utilizing the teachings disclosed herein. The use of numerical ranges by endpoints includes all numbers within that range (e.g., 1 to 5 includes 1, 1.5, 2, 2.75, 3, 3.80, 4, and 5) and any range within that range.
The various embodiments described above may be implemented using circuitry, firmware, and/or software modules that interact to provide particular results. One of skill in the arts can readily implement such described functionality, either at a modular level or as a whole, using knowledge generally known in the art. For example, the flowcharts and control diagrams illustrated herein may be used to create computer-readable instructions/code for execution by a processor. Such instructions may be stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium and transferred to the processor for execution as is known in the art. The structures and procedures shown above are only a representative example of embodiments that can be used to provide the functions described hereinabove.
Terms related to orientation, such as “top,” “bottom,” “side,” and “end,” are used to describe relative positions of components and are not meant to limit the orientation of the embodiments contemplated. For example, an embodiment described as having a “top” and “bottom” also encompasses embodiments thereof rotated in various directions unless the content clearly dictates otherwise. Generally such terms are used herein to describe an orientation shown in the figure, and unless otherwise specified, are not meant to limit orientation of physical embodiments, e.g., relative to the Earth's surface.
The foregoing description of the example embodiments has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. Any or all features of the disclosed embodiments can be applied individually or in any combination and are not meant to be limiting, but purely illustrative. It is intended that the scope of the invention be limited not with this detailed description, but rather determined by the claims appended hereto.
