Patent Application
20130240919
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device capable of emitting light upon injection of an electric current and a manufacturing method thereof, and more particularly to a semiconductor device having a polygonal or circular columnar shape, and a manufacturing method thereof.
Generally, a semiconductor device, which has a PN junction and emits light when a current is injected in the forward direction, is referred to as a light-emitting diode (LED) A light-emitting diode has advantages in that it can simply emit light at a desired frequency, is small in size, and has strong vibration resistance, low power consumption and long life expectancy, compared to a filament bulb.
Gallium-nitrogen (GaN) based light-emitting diodes have been developed which can easily emit green light. Thus, lights having various colors can be embodied using light-emitting diodes, and the range of application of light-emitting diodes has been expanded.
Light-emitting diodes are generally formed by depositing a GaN-based semiconductor device layer on a substrate, and a process of obtaining individual light-emitting diode devices by separating the semiconductor device layer from the substrate is required.
Conventional methods for separating individual light-emitting diodes from each other include a dicing method comprising cutting a substrate with a rotating blade, and a scribing method which comprises forming a groove in a substrate, and then cutting the substrate in a desired direction by applying stress. It is widely known that these methods cause damage to light-emitting diode devices during the separation process, resulting in a significant reduction in yield. In addition, in the dicing and scribing methods, light-emitting diodes fabricated in a wafer unit can only be separated in a straight line, and thus are typically separated mainly in a parallelogrammic or rectangular shape. Due to the limitation of the separation process, there is a limitation with regard to the shape that one light-emitting diode can have. This limitation reduces the street line versus the area of light-emitting diodes on a wafer, thus limiting any attempt to increase the light-emitting efficiency.
When light-emitting diodes are used for lighting, circular lenses are used in a packaging process in order to efficiently extract light from the light-emitting diodes. In order to increase light extraction efficiency, the shape of the light-emitting side of the light-emitting diodes should be optimally suited to the shape of the circular lenses. However, attempts to increase light extraction efficiency have been difficult due to the limitation of the separation process as described above.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device in any polygonal or circular columnar shape and a semiconductor device manufactured by the method. When the semiconductor device manufactured according to the present invention is applied as a light-emitting diode device, even in a field in which its application is not necessarily limited, the light extraction efficiency can be maximized, because the light-emitting side thereof may have a circular shape or any polygonal shape.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a light-emitting diode device having increased light-emitting efficiency as a result of reducing the street line versus the area.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor device having increased light extraction efficiency by fabricating a light-emitting diode so that the shape of the light-emitting diode is similar to the shape of a circular lens such as that which is generally used.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an electrode structure which optimizes heat transfer and current spreading when a light-emitting diode device has any polygonal or circular shape.
In order to accomplish the above objects, an embodiment of the present invention provides semiconductor devices, each comprising a P-type semiconductor layer, an N-type semiconductor layer and a light-emitting layer, in which each of individual semiconductor devices forms a polygonal or circular column The light-emitting layer is located between the P-type semiconductor layer and the N-type semiconductor layer.
The plurality of the semiconductor devices, formed on a wafer and each having a polygonal or circular columnar shape, may be periodically or regularly spaced apart from each other. The semiconductor device may have a polygonal shape so that a street line of the semiconductor device versus an area of the semiconductor device can be minimized. Herein, an example of the polygonal shape may be a hexagonal shape. When the hexagonal semiconductor devices are arranged in a crossing pattern, the distance therebetween can be minimized. This arrangement structure is also called a honeycomb structure. Alternatively, the semiconductor device may have a circular shape so as to minimize the street line versus the area.
The shape of the semiconductor devices and a boundary therebetween can be determined according to a crystal structure of the semiconductor. For example, a GaN-based light-emitting diode device may have a hexagonal columnar shape according to the (0001) crystal structure.
In addition, a plurality of semiconductor devices according to an embodiment of the present invention may be formed on the same connection support layer and may be connected by the connection support layer. Herein, the connection support layer may be formed of a metal layer or a metal compound. Alternatively, it may be formed of a compound comprising at least one of Si, GaN, Al2O3 and SiC.
Further, a method for manufacturing a semiconductor according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises the steps of: forming a semiconductor structure layer on a substrate; depositing a metal layer on the surface of the semiconductor structure layer; exposing the semiconductor structure layer by separating the semiconductor structure layer and the metal layer from the substrate; forming a plurality of individual semiconductor devices having a polygonal or circular shape by etching the semiconductor structure layer according to a first mask pattern; and separating the individual semiconductor devices from each other by dry-etching or wet-etching the metal layer according to a second mask pattern corresponding to the first mask pattern so that the metal layer remains as a plurality of polygonal or circular shapes.
The plurality of the individual semiconductor devices having a polygonal or circular columnar shape are supported by the metal layer before separation. The individual semiconductor devices are separated from each other by etching the metal layer to correspond to the shape of the individual semiconductor devices.
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device according to another embodiment of the present invention comprises the steps of: forming a semiconductor structure layer on a substrate, and then depositing a mask layer on a boundary region excluding a device region of a surface of the semiconductor structure layer, in which a semiconductor device is to be formed; depositing a metal layer on the exposed surface of the semiconductor structure layer, on which the mask was not deposited; exposing the semiconductor structure layer by separating the semiconductor structure layer from the substrate; forming a plurality of the individual semiconductor devices having the polygonal or circular shape by etching the semiconductor structure layer according to a mask pattern corresponding to the boundary region; and separating the individual semiconductor devices from each other by removing the mask layer from the boundary region.
In this embodiment, before the individual semiconductor devices are separated from each other, a support layer capable of connecting and supporting the individual semiconductor devices may further be deposited on the surface of the metal layer or a surface opposite the metal layer. Alternatively, a support member such as a support tape may be adhered to the surface of the metal layer or a surface opposite the metal layer.
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor according to still another embodiment of the present invention comprises the steps of: forming a plurality of semiconductor structures having a polygonal or circular columnar shape on a substrate; depositing a metal layer on the surface of the plurality of the semiconductor structures; exposing the plurality of the semiconductor structures by separating the plurality of the semiconductor structures and the metal layer from the substrate; providing a first mask pattern corresponding to one or more semiconductor structure groups comprising selectively one or more of the plurality of the semiconductor structures; and separating the one or more semiconductor structure groups from each other to form individual semiconductor devices by dry-etching or wet-etching the plurality of the semiconductor structures and the metal layer using the first mask pattern. Herein, the resulting individual semiconductor devices may comprise one or more semiconductor structures having a polygonal or circular column.
The first mask pattern may be the same as or differ from a mask pattern for forming semiconductor structures into polygonal or circular columns. According to the above method, the semiconductor structures may be formed to have the smallest possible size, but the plurality of semiconductor devices may also be separated at the same time as an individual semiconductor device by using a larger first mask pattern in the separation process.
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor according to still another embodiment of the present invention comprises the steps of: forming a plurality of semiconductor structures having a polygonal columnar or circular columnar shape on a substrate; providing a first mask pattern corresponding to one or more semiconductor structure groups comprising one or more of the plurality of the semiconductor structures; depositing a mask layer on a boundary region other than the one or more semiconductor structure groups using the first mask pattern; depositing a metal layer corresponding to the one or more semiconductor structure groups using a second mask pattern corresponding to the first mask pattern; separating and removing the substrate from the plurality of the semiconductor structures; forming individual semiconductor devices corresponding to the one or more semiconductor structure groups by dry-etching or wet-etching the plurality of the semiconductor structures using the first mask pattern; and separating the individual semiconductor devices from each other by removing the mask layer from the boundary region.
A support layer may additionally be formed on or adhered to the metal layer or a surface opposite to the metal layer, and the additional support layer may connect and support the plurality of individual semiconductor devices until the individual semiconductor devices are separated from each other.
The individual semiconductor devices separated from each other comprise one or more previously formed polygonal column-shaped or circle-shaped devices.
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor according to another embodiment of the present invention comprises the steps of: forming on a substrate a plurality of semiconductor structures which have a polygonal columnar or circular columnar shape and are periodically spaced apart from each other; depositing a metal layer on the plurality of the semiconductor structures or on a boundary between the semiconductor structures; irradiating the substrate with a laser, which corresponds to a shape of one of the plurality of the semiconductor structures or a shape of a group including two or more of the plurality of the semiconductor structures and has a uniform beam profile, in a direction perpendicular to the substrate so that the laser is absorbed into a boundary between the plurality of the semiconductor structures and the substrate; and separating one or more of the plurality of the semiconductor structures from the substrate by the absorbed laser.
Herein, the beam profile may be irradiated into the boundary between one of the semiconductor structures and the substrate so that the one semiconductor structure is separated as one chip. Alternatively, the beam profile may be irradiated into the plurality of periodically arranged semiconductor structures so that the plurality of semiconductor structures may be separated from the substrate at the same time.
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor according to another embodiment of the present invention comprises the steps of: forming a semiconductor structure layer on a substrate; depositing a mask layer on a boundary region excluding a device region of a surface of the semiconductor structure layer, in which individual semiconductor devices are to be formed and which has a polygonal or circular shape; depositing a first metal layer on the device region of the surface of the semiconductor structure layer; removing the mask layer from the boundary region; depositing a second metal layer on the boundary region and the first metal layer; exposing the semiconductor structure layer by separating the semiconductor structure layer from the substrate; forming a plurality of the individual semiconductor devices having a polygonal columnar or circular columnar shape by etching the semiconductor structure layer according to a mask pattern corresponding to the boundary region; and separating the individual semiconductor devices from each other by etching a portion of the second metal layer, deposited on the boundary region, according to the mask pattern corresponding to the boundary region.
According to this embodiment, the first metal layer is selectively deposited only on the device region, and the second metal layer is deposited on the whole region. A portion of the second metal layer, which corresponds to the boundary region, is etched by a subsequent etching process. Thus, the time required to etch the metal layers can be controlled by suitably selecting the thicknesses of the first metal layer and the second metal layer.
In addition, a light-emitting diode device according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises an electrode formed on the surface of the semiconductor, and a finger connected to the electrode. The electrode and the finger are made of a conductive material, and when voltage is applied through the electrode, an electric current is diffused to the surface of the semiconductor device through the finger. In some embodiments, the finger may comprise an inner finger and an outer finger, and the inner finger and the outer finger are connected to each other by a connection finger. The distance of the finger from any point on the surface of the semiconductor device may be set at a specific value or less. When this finger is formed, an electric current is rapidly transferred to any point on the surface of the semiconductor. The finger may also be called an extension of the electrode.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited or restricted to these embodiments. In the drawings, like reference numerals indicate like elements.
Each region in the drawings may be simplified or somewhat exaggerated to clearly show the features of the present invention, and the dimensions of each region in the drawings may not be exactly identical to the actual dimensions of the products of the present invention.
Any person skilled in the art may easily modify the dimensions (e.g., length, circumstance, thickness, etc.) of each element in the drawings and apply these modifications to actual products, and these modifications will fall within the scope of the present invention.
The biggest characteristic of the light-emitting diode semiconductor devices according to the present invention is that they may have any shape and arrangement.
Specifically, the shape of the semiconductor devices of the present invention may be determined by any one of the following requirements. First, the semiconductor devices may have a shape that minimize the street line versus the surface area of the light-emitting side. Ideally, a circular shape satisfies this requirement, but a shape such as a hexagonal or octagonal shape that is relatively similar to a circular shape can be applied in some embodiments. Second, the semiconductor devices may have a shape that minimizes the surface area of the light-emitting side. Third, the semiconductor devices may have a shape that reflects the crystal structure of a semiconductor on which light-emitting diodes are based. Fourth, the semiconductor devices may be arranged so that the distance between adjacent semiconductor devices is minimized. For example, semiconductor devices having a hexagonal shape may be arranged in a crossing pattern to form a honeycomb structure in order to satisfy the above requirements.
The semiconductor devices of the present invention may satisfy all or any one of the above requirements.
The semiconductor device 110 may have any shape that can be patterned. This is because the semiconductor devices 110 are separated from each other by a selective etching or selective deposition (plating) method using a pattern, in place of the prior scribing or dicing technique.
The semiconductor devices 110 and the grid lines 120 may have a periodically repeating shape, because they are formed by patterning. In some embodiments, the shape of the semiconductor devices 110 and the grid lines 120 can be modified so that the length of the grid lines 120 versus the area of the semiconductor devices 110 is minimized.
The first semiconductor layer 240 may be a P-type semiconductor layer, and a second semiconductor layer 260 may be an N-type semiconductor layer. The light-emitting layer 250 is interposed between the first semiconductor layer 240 and the second semiconductor layer 260 in order to increase the light-emitting efficiency of the light-emitting diode semiconductor device, and is also called a multi-quantum well (MQW) layer.
In some embodiments, the positions of the P-type semiconductor layer and the N-type semiconductor layer may be changed with each other. The first semiconductor layer 240, the light-emitting layer 250 and the second semiconductor layer 260 may be formed of a material comprising at least one of GaN, AlGaN, ALGaAs, ALGaInP, GaAsP, GaP and InGaN.
The metal layer 210 functions to supply a current to the first semiconductor layer 240 and support the semiconductor device 200. The metal layer 210 may be formed of a metal that has high electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity and relatively high mechanical strength, such as copper or a copper compound.
The metal layer 210 may be formed by an electrical plating method. In some embodiments, the metal layer 210 may consist of two layers, including a soft copper layer (not shown) which has low density and can relieve stress, and a hard copper layer (not shown) which has high density and strength and provides a mechanical support.
The first adhesive layer 220 comes into a direct contact with the metal layer 210 and forms a portion of the electrical path between the first semiconductor layer 240 and the metal layer 210. The second adhesive layer 230 also forms a portion of the electrical path between the first semiconductor layer 240 and the metal layer 210 and comes into direct contact with the first semiconductor layer 240.
In the fabrication process, the second adhesive layer 230, first adhesive layer 220 and the metal layer 210 may be sequentially formed on the first semiconductor layer 240. In this case, the second adhesive layer 230 can function to allow the first adhesive layer 220 to be smoothly bonded to the first adhesive layer 220 and may be formed of a compound comprising at least one of Ag, ITO, Ni, Pt, Pd and Au.
The first adhesive layer 220 functions as an intermediate layer between the metal layer 210 and the second adhesive layer 230 and may comprise, for example, Au.
The transparent electrode layer 270 may be formed of N-type indium tin oxide (ITO). The electrode layer 280 may comprise a metal and a metal compound and can function to promote the diffusion of an electric current to the surface of the second semiconductor layer 260.
In the embodiment of
In the prior dicing or scribing technique, chips were separated from each other by a physical force, and thus the grid line was necessarily a straight line. However, the semiconductor devices 200 of the present invention are easily separated from each other, because the metal layer 210 may be selectively etched (chemical etching or dry etching using a pattern) or selectively plated (only a portion of the metal layer 210 is previously formed using a pattern). Thus, the grid line does not need to be a straight line and may have any shape which can be periodically patterned.
When the semiconductor devices 200 have a hexagonal shape as shown in
Hexagonal structures as shown in
Because the semiconductor devices 200 may have any shape in a regular and periodical pattern, having a polygonal shape similar to a circular shape can increase the light extraction efficiency and the light-emitting efficiency versus the current applied.
However, in order to increase the number of the semiconductor devices 200 versus the same wafer area and minimize the area per chip, the semiconductor devices 200 may be arranged in a crossing pattern to form a honeycomb structure. The honeycomb structure is consistent with the crystal structure of the (0001) plane (c-plane) of a GaN-based semiconductor, and thus has an advantage in that the occurrence of defects during chip separation can be minimized.
As shown in
The electrode 410 is a portion through which voltage can be applied to the semiconductor device 110 from the outside using a wiring method such as wire bonding The outer finger 420 is connected to the electrode 410 so that voltage can be effectively transferred even to the border of the surface of the semiconductor device 110. The inner finger 430 is connected to the electrode 410 or the outer finger 420 by the connection finger 440 so that voltage can be effectively applied even to the central portion of the semiconductor device 110. It may be designed such that the distance of the electrode 410 or the fingers 420, 430 and 440 from any point of the surface of the semiconductor device 110 is, for example, ½ of or less than the distance between the outer finger 420 and the inner finger 430. When the electrode layer 280 is formed of a light-reflecting material (opaque material), there is a disadvantage in that, if the area of the electrode layer 280 increases, the amount of light emitted from the semiconductor device 400 decreases. When the electrode 410 and the fingers 420, 430 and 440 connected to the electrode 410 are used, voltage can be smoothly applied to the surface of the semiconductor device 100 while the area of the electrode layer 280 can be reduced. In the structure shown in
In the structures illustrated in
As shown in
In the structure shown in
After depositing the first metal layer 1140, a wafer carrier 1150 is formed on the first metal layer 1140. For example, the wafer carrier may be formed of a perforated wafer carrier or a compound comprising at least one of a semiconductor, a semiconductor compound and a metal oxide. For smooth bonding, an adhesive layer may also be formed between the first metal layer 1140 and the wafer carrier 1150. Examples of the compound include Si, GaN, Al2O3 (sapphire), Si-C (silicon carbide), or combinations thereof.
As shown in
The process of separating the substrate 1110 from the light-emitting diode layer 1120 may also be performed by chemical lift off (CLF). The CLO process is performed by a chemical reaction at the boundary between the substrate 1110 and the light-emitting diode layer 1120.
After separating the substrate 1110 from the light-emitting diode layer 1120, a transparent electrode layer 1160 may be formed. The transparent electrode layer 1160 may be formed of an N-type indium tin oxide. Although not shown in
As shown in
The wafer carrier 1150 can be removed from the metal layer 1140, after the process of etching the transparent electrode layer 1160, the light-emitting layer 1120 and the first contact layer 1130 was performed. Herein, before the process of etching and separating the metal layer 1140, a support tape (not shown) may be adhered to the transparent electrode layer 1160.
After the water carrier 1150 is removed, a mask pattern is deposited on the device regions of the metal layer 1140, and the boundary region is exposed. Then, a dry etching or wet etching process is applied to the metal layer 1140 so that the metal layer 1140 in the boundary region is etched.
After completion of the process of etching the metal layer 1140 in the boundary region, the deposited mask pattern is removed. After removing the mask pattern, the metal layer 1140 is adhered to a support tape 1170 by a transfer process.
Herein, because the metal layer 1140 is separated into regions so that it cannot function as a connection support layer, the support tape 1170 temporarily functions to connect and support the individual semiconductor devices 1300. Each of the individual semiconductor devices 1300 is separated from the support tape 1170 and subjected to a packaging process, thereby providing an individual chip.
In the prior art, when the metal layer 1140 was selected as the connection support layer, the process of etching it was not smoothly performed. For this reason, the dicing or scribing technique was widely used to separate the connection support layer.
In the dicing or scribing process, a material such as silicon carbide (Si-C) is used as a connection support layer, a plurality of semiconductor devices cannot be separated, and only one semiconductor device can be separated at a time. Thus, the separation process in the prior art is a process, which is most time-consuming and likely to fail, in processes for manufacturing light-emitting diodes.
In the prior art, even when a metal material such as copper, which has high electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity to show high ability to transfer an electric current, was to be used as the connection support layer, the dicing or scribing technique was difficult to apply, because the copper layer has high ductility. Thus, the scribing technique was performed using a material having low electrical conductivity, such as molybdenum, in place of copper.
In the first embodiment of the inventive method for manufacturing the semiconductor devices, only a portion (boundary region excluding device regions) of the metal layer 1140 is exposed, it can be etched using at least one of copper II chloride (CuCL2), hydrochloride (HCL) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2).
Herein, because only the boundary region excluding the device regions is exposed so that the etching solution is concentrated on a portion of the metal layer 1140, which is to be etched, the etching of copper can be promoted, and the concentration of the solution, the line width of the exposed boundary region, etc., can be determined through experiments.
As described above, as the etching of the metal layer 1140, which was impossible in the prior art, becomes possible, a plurality of semiconductor devices 1300 can be separated at the same time, and thus the time required for the separation process can be greatly reduced. In addition, no physical impact is applied in the separation process, unlike the dicing or scribing process, and thus the yield of the separation process is greatly improved.
Moreover, the etching of the metal layer 1140 can be performed using dry etching in addition to wet etching. When the metal layer 1140 is a copper layer, it can be dry-etched using dry etching methods, including a laser-based method, ICP, ion milling, RIE, sputter etching, ion beam assisted etching and the like. For example, chips corresponding to the semiconductor devices 1300 can be separated by etching the metal layer 1140 using chlorine plasma.
As shown in
Specifically, the first mask pattern is constructed so as to cover the device regions, in which the light-emitting diode devices are to be formed, and open the boundary region excluding the device regions. Because only the boundary region of the contact layer 1430 is exposed by the first mask pattern, the mask layer 1441 is deposited on the boundary region.
As opposed to the first mask pattern, a second mask pattern is constructed so as to open the device regions and cover the boundary region. The process for forming the first metal layer 1440 is performed using the second mask pattern. Herein, the previously formed mask layer 1441 may also naturally act as the second mask pattern. For example, when the first metal layer 1440 is formed by plating, if the mask layer 1441 is a non-conductive material (e.g., photoresist), the mask layer will not be plated, because no current passes therethrough. The exposed device regions of the contact layer 1430, on which the mask layer 1441 is not formed, are plated with the first metal layer 1440, because an electric current passes therethrough.
After forming the mask layer 1441 and the first metal layer 1440, a wafer carrier 1450 is adhered onto the mask layer 1441 and the first metal layer 1140. Like the case of
As shown in
The individual semiconductor devices 1500 are separated from each other by the etching process. After the separation process, the individual semiconductor devices 1500 are maintained in a connected state and supported by the wafer carrier 1450. As the wafer carrier 1450 is removed, the process for manufacturing the individual semiconductor devices 1500 is completed.
In the mask patterns shown in
In
According to another embodiment of the present invention, the mask patterns shown in
When the laser beam spot covers each of the circles or polygons shown in
According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a means capable of controlling the area of semiconductor devices which are separated into individual chips. Referring to the mask patterns shown in
Specifically, using the mask patterns shown in
For example, after individual semiconductor devices corresponding to the hexagonal patterns shown in
In actual application, the requirement for the size of each light-emitting diode chip can be changed. In this case, in order to minimize the cost and time of fabrication of the final product, the size of light-emitting diode chips can be selectively controlled by forming individual semiconductor devices having a minimum unit size, and finally selecting the number of individual semiconductor devices in the separation step.
Referring to
On the boundary region excluding the device regions of the first contact layer 1930, a mask layer 1950 is deposited. Then, a first metal layer 1940 is deposited on the device regions of the first contact layer 1930.
Referring to
Subsequent processes are partially similar to the processes shown in
The process for etching the transparent electrode layer 1970, the light-emitting diode layer 1920 and the first contact layer 1930 is a process for forming individual semiconductor devices. The boundary region is removed by etching so as to leave the device regions of the transparent electrode layer 1970, the light-emitting diode layer 1920 and the first contact layer 1930.
Then, before a process of separating the second metal layer 1960 into regions, a support tape 1980 is adhered to a surface opposite the second metal layer 1960, that is, the transparent electrode layer 1970, in order to connect and support individual semiconductor devices.
Referring to
As described above, the etching process may be performed using a dry or wet etching method.
According to the third embodiment, the time required to etch the second metal layer 1960 can be optimized by controlling the thickness of the first metal layer 1940, which is formed on a portion of the surface, and the thickness of the second metal layer which is formed on the whole surface. In addition, whether the shape of the side after the process of etching the metal layers can be sufficiently controlled is one of factors to be considered. Because the second layer 1960 functions connects and supports individual semiconductor devices, the thickness of the second metal layer 1960 can be determined considering various factors, including the time required for the etching process, the shape of the side after etching, and the strength for structural support.
Individual semiconductor devices separated from each other are supported by the first metal layer 1940 and the second metal layer 1960, and thus can be more stably supported.
Referring to
The methods for manufacturing semiconductor devices according to the embodiments of the present invention may be implemented in the form of program commands executable by various kinds of computers and recorded in a computer-readable recording medium.
Also, the methods may be provided in the form of software/firmware programmed in the memory of a controller that generates signals for controlling semiconductor device fabrication systems, and these methods can be sequentially performed according to the programmed order.
The computer-readable recording medium may include program commands, data files, data structures or the like, either separately or in combination. The program commands recorded on the medium may be specially designed and configured for the present disclosure or be known to and used by those skilled in the computer software fields. The recording medium includes, for example, magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks and magnetic tapes, optical media such as CD-ROM and DVD, magneto-optical media such as floptical disks, and hardware units such as ROM, RAM and flash memories, which are specially configured to store and perform program commands The program command includes, for example, machine language codes composed by a compiler and high-level language codes executable by a computer by using an interpreter or the like. The hardware unit may be configured to operate as at least one software module in order to perform operations of the present disclosure, or vice versa.
According to the inventive method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, individual devices are separated from each other by a process of selectively forming a metal layer using a pattern or selectively dry/wet etching a metal layer using a pattern, in place of a process of separating individual devices from each other using the prior dicing or scribing process, and thus individual light-emitting diode devices can be prepared in any shape.
In the prior dicing or scribing process, individual devices were separated from each other by a physical force, and thus a boundary region between the individual devices may necessarily be a straight line. However, in the inventive method for manufacturing semiconductor devices, individual devices can be easily separated from each other, even when a boundary region therebetween has any pattern.
Specifically, a method of forming a mask, forming a metal layer only on a region other than the mask and etching a portion of a semiconductor structure layer, which corresponds to the mask, is used, a semiconductor device having a polygonal columnar or circular columnar shape can be fabricated, because the mask pattern is not limited to a straight line.
Further, according to the present invention, because a semiconductor device can be fabricated in a polygonal columnar or circular columnar shape, the street line versus the area of the semiconductor device can be reduced, and thus the semiconductor device can have increased light-emitting efficiency.
The semiconductor device can be formed in a hexagonal shape or any polygonal shape, which are more similar in shape to a commonly used circular lens than a rectangular shape. Thus, the light extraction efficiency of the light-emitting diode can be increased.
In addition, the semiconductor device according to the present invention may have an optimized electrode structure on the surface of the light-emitting side having any polygonal shape or a circular shape. In the electrode structure of the present invention, the distance of the conductive finger electrode from any point of the surface of the light-emitting side of the semiconductor device may be a specific value or less. When voltage is applied to the electrode, the same voltage is instantaneously applied between the conductive finger and the electrode, and an electric current is diffused from the finger or the electrode to the surface of the semiconductor device. Thus, the electrode structure of the present invention allows an electric current to be rapidly diffused on the surface of the light-emitting side of the semiconductor device.
Although the inventive method for manufacturing the semiconductor device has been described with respect to the fabrication of the vertical-type semiconductor device, but the fundamental sprit of the present invention can also be applied to horizontal-type semiconductor devices. In addition, in the inventive method for manufacturing the semiconductor device, the semiconductor devices can be individually separated from the substrate, and a plurality of the semiconductor devices can be separated from the substrate at the same time by controlling the size of the beam spot in a laser lift off (LLO) process. For example, in the case of hexagonal honeycomb structures, hexagonal structures can be individually separated, and 7 hexagonal structures can also be separated at the same time by controlling the beam spot size.
In addition, according to the inventive method for manufacturing the semiconductor device, after individual semiconductor device regions have been formed, a group including one or more individual semiconductor device regions can be separated as one individual semiconductor device by patterning. For example, in the above-described honeycomb structure, one hexagonal structure can be separated as an individual semiconductor device, and when a chip having a larger size is required, a group including 7 hexagonal structures can also be separated as one individual chip.
As described above, the present invention relates to a semiconductor device capable of emitting light upon application of voltage and a method for manufacturing the same, and more particularly to a semiconductor device having a polygonal or circular columnar shape and a method for manufacturing the same.
The semiconductor device of the present invention comprises a plurality of semiconductor structures and a connecting support layer that supports the plurality of semiconductor structures, wherein each of the plurality of semiconductor structures comprises a P-type first semiconductor layer, an N-type second semiconductor layer, and a light-emitting layer located between the first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer, and forms a to polygonal or circular column.
As described above, although the present invention has been presented based on specific limitations such as detailed components as well as limited embodiments and drawings, they are provided just for better understanding of the present disclosure, and the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments and may be changed or modified in various ways by those having ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, the spirit of the present invention should not be limited to the above embodiments, and the appended claims and all equivalents or equivalent modifications thereof should be recognized as being included in the scope of the present invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2010-0108670 | Nov 2010 | KR | national |
This application is a continuation of PCT/KR2011/008275 filed on Nov. 02, 2011, which claims priority to Korean Application No. 10-2010-0108670 filed on Nov. 03, 2010, which applications are incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/KR2011/008275 | Nov 2011 | US |
| Child | 13874744 | US |
