CN112466800A - Electrowetting transfer printing head, transfer printing head array and micro LED (light emitting diode) mass transfer method - Google Patents

Electrowetting transfer printing head, transfer printing head array and micro LED (light emitting diode) mass transfer method Download PDF

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CN112466800A
CN112466800A CN202110093322.5A CN202110093322A CN112466800A CN 112466800 A CN112466800 A CN 112466800A CN 202110093322 A CN202110093322 A CN 202110093322A CN 112466800 A CN112466800 A CN 112466800A
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transfer
transfer head
micro led
micro
electrode
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CN112466800B (en
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刘胜
李国梁
东芳
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Wuhan University WHU
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Wuhan University WHU
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    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01LSEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/67Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
    • H01L21/677Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for conveying, e.g. between different workstations
    • H01L21/67763Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for conveying, e.g. between different workstations the wafers being stored in a carrier, involving loading and unloading
    • H01L21/67778Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for conveying, e.g. between different workstations the wafers being stored in a carrier, involving loading and unloading involving loading and unloading of wafers
    • H01L21/67781Batch transfer of wafers
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01LSEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/67Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
    • H01L21/683Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for supporting or gripping
    • H01L21/6838Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere for supporting or gripping with gripping and holding devices using a vacuum; Bernoulli devices
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H01ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01LSEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L33/00Semiconductor devices with at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier specially adapted for light emission; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof
    • H01L33/005Processes
    • H01L33/0095Post-treatment of devices, e.g. annealing, recrystallisation or short-circuit elimination

Abstract

The utility model provides a method that electrowetting transfer head, transfer head array and little LED huge volume shifted, includes the transfer head and can carry out the control substrate of addressing operation according to the signal of telecommunication, the top surface of transfer head closely arranges in control substrate's bottom surface in order to form the transfer head array, and is adjacent the runner of transfer head is linked together in its upper portion, and hydrophilic layer has all been laid to the passageway inner wall that is linked together, the last pressure adjustment hole that is provided with a plurality of and the top of runner is linked together that is provided with of control substrate, the last electrode of transfer head and bottom electrode are connected through the circuit that corresponds in electrode lead and the control substrate respectively to make control substrate can carry out addressing control to single transfer head. Each transfer head of the transfer head array can be independently addressed to realize batch transfer printing or selective transfer printing of a large number of micro LEDs; the working liquid is adopted for adhesion, and no special requirements are made on the geometric shape, the surface appearance and the electromagnetic property of the micro LED.

Description

Electrowetting transfer printing head, transfer printing head array and micro LED (light emitting diode) mass transfer method
Technical Field
The invention relates to a micro device transfer head and a micro LED bulk transfer method, in particular to an electrowetting transfer head, a transfer head array and a micro LED bulk transfer method.
Background
Currently, the mainstream technologies in the Display market are Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED). Micro LED (Micro-LED) display technology is a pixel unit using an LED chip of 1 to 100 micrometer (μm) unit as a display, and compared with LCD and OLED display technologies, the Micro LED display technology has the outstanding advantages of high quantum efficiency, high contrast, high viewing angle, high color gamut, extremely fast response time, easy transparent display, long service life, and the like, and will gradually become the mainstream technology of next-generation displays.
A key process in micro LED display technology is the precise and rapid transfer of a large number of micro LED chip elements to a display substrate, a process also known as bulk transfer. Since the micro LED size is as small as 1 μm to 100 μm, a conventional pick and place (pick & place) apparatus cannot be used, and a transfer technique for transferring with higher accuracy is required. With regard to this transfer technique, several configurations are disclosed as described below, but each of the disclosed techniques has several disadvantages.
The united states LuxVue corporation disclosed a method of transferring micro LEDs by electrostatic adsorption using an electrostatic head (chinese registered patent application No.: CN 201280067417.9). The disadvantages of this approach are: the flatness of the surface of the transfer object and the dielectric properties of the transfer object are required. U.S. X-Celeprint discloses a method of transferring micro LEDs on a wafer to a desired substrate using a polymer substance having elasticity as a transfer head (Taiwan laid-open patent publication No. TW 201730095A). The disadvantages of this approach are: local operation of individual LEDs is difficult. Korean plementer discloses a method of vacuum adsorption and desorption of micro LEDs using porous materials to constitute adsorption surfaces (chinese registered patent application No.: CN 201910433371.1). The disadvantages of this approach are: local operation of individual LEDs is not possible. U.S. innovassonic corporation disclosed a method of selectively separating and transferring micro-LEDs adhered to an adhesive polymer using ultrasonic energy or ultraviolet laser directed at an object (U.S. patent No. US 10249520B 2). The disadvantages of this approach are: local operation of individual LEDs is difficult. The company SelfArray, usa, discloses a method of automatically and uniformly distributing magnetically charged micro LEDs on a substrate by a periodic array of magnetic poles (US patent publication: US 2018/0261570 a 1). The disadvantages of this approach are: local operation of individual LEDs is difficult. And it is difficult to individually transfer different colored micro LEDs. United states Uniqarta corporation discloses a method of separating a micro LED from a substrate using laser irradiation to achieve micro LED transfer by an intermediate substrate and two laser irradiations (chinese registered patent application No.: CN 201880002383.2). The disadvantages of this approach are: local operation of individual LEDs is difficult. China Hua Brilliant optoelectronic corporation disclosed that Micro LED transfer printing was achieved by placing a driving circuit board and Micro LEDs in a solution, and the Micro LED chips were fixedly mounted on the driving circuit board under the action of magnetic force (Chinese registered patent application No.: CN 201710561814.6). The disadvantages of this approach are: the Micro LED chip and the target substrate need to be pre-manufactured with magnetism, and local operation cannot be performed on a single LED, which discloses to China Huaxing photoelectric company that Micro LEDs are transferred by arranging a heat-shrinkable adhesive layer on an intermediate substrate and controlling the viscosity of the heat-shrinkable adhesive layer by temperature (China registered patent application No. CN 201911250235.5). The disadvantages of this approach are: local operation of individual LEDs is difficult. The beijing oriental company of china discloses a transfer head using an electrostriction device to perform electric-to-flex as a micro LED to realize transfer printing of the micro LED (chinese registered patent application No. CN 201910243046.9). The disadvantages of this approach are: the requirements on the shape of the micro LED are strict, the structure of the transfer printing head is complex, and the processing and repairing cost is high. The san an optoelectronic corporation, china, discloses a method of adhering micro LEDs using a photo-etching material and releasing the micro LEDs using a photo-etching process to achieve micro LED transfer printing (chinese registered patent application No.: CN 201711153705.7). The disadvantages of this approach are: the local operation can not be carried out on a single LED, the process is complicated, the processes of gluing, heating, laser etching, photoresist removing and the like are needed once the transfer printing is carried out, and the speed is low. The san an optoelectronic corporation, china, discloses a micro LED transfer printing method using a carrier plate, a conveyor belt, a resolvable glue, an extruding device and a releasing device (chinese registered patent application No. CN 201711426885.1). The disadvantages of this approach are: the operation of a single micro LED is difficult, and the requirements on a carrying disc, the synchronous operation of a transmission belt, the deformation control of the transmission belt and the like are high. The chinese temma microelectronics corporation has disclosed a method for picking up and releasing micro LEDs by controlling temperature using a post-like protrusion made of a high thermal conductivity material and a heat sensitive glue (chinese registered patent application No.: CN 201811228521.7). The disadvantages of this approach are: local temperature control is difficult for individual LEDs and the transfer head needs to be re-glued once per transfer.
There are requirements such as the inability to operate on individual micro LEDs or the prefabricated magnetism or specific shape of micro LEDs, respectively, of the prior inventions 1 to 12 described above.
(patent document 1) chinese registered patent application no: CN201280067417.9
(patent document 2) published japanese patent application No. taiwan: TW 201730095A
(patent document 3) U.S. patent No.: US 10249520B 2
(patent document 4) chinese registered patent application no: CN 201880002383.2
(patent document 5) chinese registered patent application no: CN 201911250235.5
(patent document 6) chinese registered patent application no: CN 201910243046.9
(patent document 7) chinese registered patent application no: CN 201711426885.1
(patent document 8) chinese registered patent application no: CN 201811228521.7
Disclosure of Invention
In order to solve the problems, the invention provides an electrowetting transfer head and a micro LED bulk transfer method, and the specific technical scheme is as follows:
an electrowetting transfer head comprises a transfer head substrate, a hydrophobic dielectric material layer, an upper electrode and a lower electrode, the transfer printing head base body is provided with a flow channel which is communicated up and down, the bottom of the flow channel is provided with an adsorption surface opening, lower electrodes are laid on the inner side of the bottom surface of the transfer printing head base body close to the adsorption surface opening and the lower part of the inner wall of the flow channel, a hydrophobic dielectric material layer is laid on the surface of the lower electrode, a hydrophilic layer is laid on the inner wall of the flow channel outside the hydrophobic dielectric material layer, the outer side of the bottom surface of the transfer head base body is paved with a hydrophobic layer, the flow channel is filled with working liquid in the area where the hydrophilic layer is paved, the upper electrode extends into the working liquid from the top surface of the transfer head base body, and is always kept in contact with the working liquid, and an electrowetting power supply capable of applying or eliminating potential difference is connected between the upper electrode and the lower electrode through a lead or a circuit wiring.
Further, the working liquid is one of water, an inorganic aqueous solution, an organic aqueous solution, vegetable oil, mineral oil or liquid metal.
Further, the material of the hydrophilic layer is one of epoxy resin, polyethylene, polyacrylonitrile, polysulfone or polyvinyl alcohol.
Furthermore, the hydrophobic layer is made of polytetrafluoroethylene or polyhexafluoropropylene, or a nano surface hydrophobic structure material.
Further, the material of the hydrophobic dielectric material layer is polytetrafluoroethylene or polyhexafluoropropylene.
The utility model provides a little LED transfers first array, includes the transfer head and can carry out the control substrate of addressing operation according to the signal of telecommunication, the top surface that transfers the head closely arranges in control substrate's bottom surface in order to form and transfer the first array, and is adjacent the runner that transfers the head communicates with each other in its upper portion, and hydrophilic layer has all been laid to the passageway inner wall that is linked together, the last pressure adjustment hole that is provided with a plurality of tops with the runner and is linked together of control substrate, the last electrode and the bottom electrode that transfer the head are connected through the circuit that corresponds in electrode lead and the control substrate respectively to make control substrate can carry out addressing control to single transfer the head.
Further, the micro-LEDs range in size from on the order of 0.1 microns to on the order of 1000 microns.
Furthermore, a hydraulic adjusting device or a pneumatic control device is connected to the pressure adjusting hole.
Further, the control substrate is a TFT substrate.
Further, the shape of the middle lower portion of the transfer head is hexahedron or cylinder.
A micro LED bulk transfer method comprises the following steps:
(1) manufacturing a micro LED on an LED epitaxial layer grown on an epitaxial substrate by an etching process, wherein the micro LED is connected with the epitaxial substrate through a connection anchor point;
(2) the transfer printing head is used for contacting the micro LED and pressing the micro LED to the epitaxial substrate, and a connecting anchor point between the micro LED and the epitaxial substrate is broken through pressing;
(3) the transfer head picks up the micro LEDs;
(4) moving the transfer printing head to enable the micro LED to be aligned to a preset target substrate, and applying certain pressure to the micro LED to enable a prefabricated electrode on the micro LED to be in contact with an electrode connecting material prefabricated on the target substrate;
(5) connecting and fixing the micro LED and the prefabricated circuit of the target substrate by the electrode connecting material in a heating or bonding mode;
(6) the transfer head releases the micro LEDs.
Further, the electrode connecting material is one of a solder ball, conductive adhesive or unidirectional conductive adhesive.
The invention has the beneficial effects that:
(1) each transfer head of the transfer head array can be independently addressed to realize batch transfer printing or selective transfer printing of a large number of micro LEDs.
(2) The working liquid is adopted for adhesion, so that no special requirements are made on the geometric shape, the surface appearance and the electromagnetic property of the micro LED.
(3) The adsorption capacity of the transfer printing head is irrelevant to the transfer printing times, and the adsorption capacity is kept unchanged for a long time only by periodically updating the working liquid.
(4) If distilled water, ethanol and other volatile liquid are used as transfer printing working liquid, the subsequent cleaning process is not needed.
Drawings
Figure 1 is the physical phenomenon on which the invention is based: schematic representation of the electrowetting effect.
Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional side view illustration of a transfer head according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional side view illustration of a transfer head with pressure-regulating apertures according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 4 is a schematic representation of a cross-sectional isometric view of a transfer head and an array of transfer heads according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional isometric view illustration of another ribbon of a transfer head and transfer head array according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 6 is a schematic illustration of a liquid-filled transfer head array pick-up micro LED process according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 7 is a schematic illustration of a liquid-filled transfer head array release micro LED process according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional side view illustration of a transfer head according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 9 is a belt-sectional isometric view illustration of a transfer head and transfer head array according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 10 is a cross-sectional isometric view illustration of another ribbon of a transfer head and transfer head array according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 11 is a schematic illustration of a liquid-filled transfer head array pick-up micro LED process according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 12 is a schematic illustration of a liquid-filled transfer head array release micro LED process according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 13 is a schematic illustration of a liquid-filled transfer head array picking up micro LEDs from an epitaxial substrate according to a third embodiment of the invention.
Fig. 14 is a schematic illustration of a liquid-filled transfer head array placing micro-LEDs onto a target substrate according to a third embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 15 is a flowchart of a transfer head array performing a one-time micro LED transfer process according to a third embodiment of the present invention.
In the figure:
100: a transfer head;
101: a transfer head base;
102: a flow channel;
103: a hydrophilic layer;
104: a hydrophobic layer;
105: a layer of hydrophobic dielectric material;
106: an adsorption surface;
107: opening holes on the adsorption surface;
108: a pressure regulating hole;
109: an upper electrode;
110: a lower electrode;
111: an electrode lead;
200: a micro device;
201: a micro LED;
300: a control substrate;
400: an epitaxial substrate;
401: connecting anchor points;
500: a target substrate;
501: an electrode connecting material;
600: a working fluid.
Detailed Description
The following merely illustrates the principles of the invention. Therefore, although not explicitly described or shown in the present specification, those skilled in the art can implement the principle of the invention and invent various devices included in the concept and scope of the invention. Further, it is to be understood that all terms and embodiments of the appended claims are principally intended expressly to be only for understanding the concept of the invention, and are not to be construed as limiting the embodiments and aspects specifically enumerated herein.
The embodiments described in the present specification will be described with reference to a cross-sectional view and/or a perspective view, which are ideal illustration views of the present invention. In order to effectively explain the technical contents, the thicknesses of the films and regions and the diameters of the holes, etc., shown in the drawings are exaggeratedly shown. The form of the illustration may be distorted by manufacturing techniques and/or tolerances. In addition, the number of micro LEDs shown in the drawings is merely exemplarily shown in a part of the drawings. Therefore, the embodiments of the present invention also include changes in form that occur according to the manufacturing process, and are not limited to the specific forms illustrated.
In the description of the various embodiments, the components that perform the same functions are given the same names and the same reference numerals for convenience, even though the embodiments are different. For convenience, the components and operations described in the other embodiments are omitted.
The term "micro" device or "micro" LED structure as used herein may refer to an illustrative size of a particular device or structure according to embodiments of the invention. As used herein, the term "micro" device or structure means on the order of 1 to 1000 μm. However, it will be appreciated that embodiments of the invention are not necessarily so limited, and that certain aspects of the embodiments may be applied to larger and possibly smaller size levels.
The invention is further described with reference to the following figures and specific embodiments:
the invention discloses a micro-device transfer head based on an electrowetting effect. Micro-devices herein refer to pre-fabricated micro-devices that may have specific functionality including, but not limited to, micro-LEDs for light emission, silicon ICs for logic and storage, gallium arsenide (GaAs) circuits for Radio Frequency (RF) communications. In certain embodiments, the array of micro LED devices prepared for pick-up is described as having a 10 μm by 10 μm pitch, or a 5 μm by 5 μm pitch. At these densities, for example, a 6 inch substrate can accommodate approximately 1.65 million micro LED devices having a 10 μm by 10 μm pitch, or approximately 6.60 million micro LED devices having a 5 μm by 5 μm pitch. A transfer tool comprising an array of transfer heads matching the pitch of a corresponding array of micro LED devices can be used to pick up and transfer the array of micro LED devices to a receiving substrate. In this way, it is possible to integrate and assemble micro LED devices into heterogeneous integrated systems, including substrates of arbitrary size, ranging from micro displays to large area displays, and at high transfer rates. For example, a1 cm x 1 cm array of micro device transfer heads can pick up and transfer more than 100000 micro devices, with a larger array of micro device transfer heads capable of transferring more micro devices.
As shown in fig. 1, the principle of the electrowetting effect: the liquid drop is placed on the lower electrode 110, a hydrophobic dielectric material layer 105 is laid on the surface of the lower electrode 110, the liquid drop forms a shape similar to water drops on the surface of lotus leaves on the hydrophobic dielectric material layer 105, and the contact angle theta of the liquid drop is large; the upper electrode 109 is inserted into the droplet, a voltage difference is applied between the upper electrode 109 and the lower electrode 110, the hydrophobic dielectric material layer 105 laid on the surface of the lower electrode 110 is changed into hydrophilic, the droplet spreads, and the droplet contact angle θ becomes smaller.
Based on the electrowetting effect, an electrowetting transfer head can be designed, so that the micro device can be picked up and released, and the following steps are specifically performed:
as shown in fig. 3 and 4, an electrowetting transfer head includes a transfer head base 101, a hydrophobic dielectric material layer 105, an upper electrode 109 and a lower electrode 110, wherein the transfer head base 101 is provided with a vertically through flow channel 102, the bottom of the flow channel 102 is an absorption surface opening 107, and an absorption surface 106 is formed; the inner side of the bottom surface of the transfer head base body 101 close to the adsorption surface opening 107 and the lower portion of the inner wall of the flow channel 102 are both provided with a lower electrode 110, the surface of the lower electrode 110 is provided with a hydrophobic dielectric material layer 105, the inner wall of the flow channel 102 outside the hydrophobic dielectric material layer 105 is provided with a hydrophilic layer 103, the outer side of the bottom surface of the transfer head base body 101 is provided with a hydrophobic layer 104, the flow channel 102 is filled with working liquid 600 in the area where the hydrophilic layer 103 is arranged, the upper electrode 109 extends into the working liquid 600 from the top surface of the transfer head base body 101 and is always kept in contact with the working liquid 600, and an electrowetting power supply capable of applying or eliminating potential difference is connected between the upper electrode 109 and the lower electrode 110 through a lead.
The transfer head substrate 101 provides a bearing function for each functional component of the transfer head 100, and the bearing function does not interfere with the electrowetting effect while ensuring strength, rigidity and structure. The material used for the transfer head substrate 101 may include, but is not limited to, polymer materials such as Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), inorganic materials such as quartz, glass, silicon, and ceramics, metals and metal alloys, and combinations thereof.
Specifically, the working fluid 600 includes, but is not limited to, water, inorganic aqueous solution, organic aqueous solution, vegetable oil, mineral oil, or liquid material such as liquid metal; the flow channel 102 inside the transfer head base 101 provides a space for the working liquid 600 to be stored, flowed, and transferred, and its shape includes, but is not limited to, the shape in the embodiment of the present invention. When the electrowetting power supply does not apply a potential difference between the upper electrode 109 and the lower electrode 110, the other regions of the flow channel 102 other than the lower electrode 110 in the flow channel 102 are filled with the working liquid 600.
The material of the hydrophilic layer 103 includes, but is not limited to, high molecular polymer materials with polar groups, such as epoxy resin (EP), Polyethylene (PE), Polyacrylonitrile (PAN), Polysulfone (PS), and polyvinyl alcohol (PEG); the hydrophobic layer 104 and the hydrophobic dielectric material layer 105 include, but are not limited to, low surface energy materials such as Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) or polyhexafluoropropylene, and the hydrophobic layer 104 may also be a material with a nano-surface hydrophobic structure.
Based on the electrowetting transfer head 100, a micro LED transfer head array may be designed to realize the transfer of micro devices 200, such as micro LED 201 devices. The method comprises the following specific steps:
as shown in fig. 2 to 5, a micro LED transfer head array includes a transfer head 100 and a control substrate 300 capable of performing addressing operation according to electrical signals, the top surface of the transfer head 100 is closely arranged on the bottom surface of the control substrate 300 to form the transfer head 100 array, the flow channels 102 of adjacent transfer heads 100 are mutually communicated at the upper part thereof, hydrophilic layers 103 are respectively laid on the inner walls of the communicated channels, a plurality of pressure adjusting holes 108 communicated with the top of the flow channels 102 are provided on the control substrate 300, and the upper electrode 109 and the lower electrode 110 of the transfer head 100 are respectively connected with corresponding circuits in the control substrate 300 through electrode leads 111, so that the control substrate 300 can perform addressing control on a single transfer head 100, thereby implementing batch transfer or selective transfer of a large number of micro LEDs 201.
The control substrate 300 may be, but is not limited to, a TFT substrate, and any substrate capable of performing addressing control may be used in the present invention; the lower end of the upper electrode 109 of the transfer head 100 is always in contact with the working liquid 600, the upper end of the upper electrode 109 extends upwards out of the transfer head base body 101 and is connected with the control substrate 300 or electrically grounded, the lower electrode 110 is connected with the control substrate 300 through the electrode lead 111, and the thin film transistor switch of the control substrate 300 can independently control the on and off of the upper electrode 109 and the lower electrode 110 of each transfer head 100, so that the addressing control can be performed on the electrodes of a single transfer head 100, the independent control of the transfer head 100 is realized, and the micro device 200 can be selectively picked up.
As shown in fig. 3 and 4, the pressure adjusting hole 108 can be shared by a plurality of transfer heads 100, and is used for injecting the working liquid 600 and forming a pressure difference between the working liquid 600 in the flow channel 102 and the outside. The pressure adjusting hole 108 is connected to a micro-pipe, and the micro-pipe is connected to an external pressure adjusting device, wherein the pressure adjusting hole 108 adjusts the pressure difference by connecting a hydraulic pressure adjusting device and a pneumatic pressure adjusting device. It should be noted that the pressure at the opening 107 of the suction surface is equivalent to the atmospheric pressure of the working site.
A large number of micro devices 200 can be picked up or transported using an array of micro LED 201 transfer heads, the micro devices 200 having dimensions in the range of 0.1 micron to 1000 micron order; the micro device 200 may be a micro LED 201, and the selective pickup process of the micro LED 201 array may be realized by the independent control of the control substrate 300 on the print head 100. The specific operation process is as follows:
the process of picking up the micro LED 201 as shown in (a), (b) of fig. 6: the voltage difference applied to the upper electrode 109 and the lower electrode 110 is controlled by the control substrate 300, the hydrophobic dielectric material layer 105 is changed from hydrophobic to hydrophilic due to the electrowetting effect, the working liquid 600 is infiltrated from the hydrophilic layer 103 area in the flow channel 102 to the flow channel 102 area at the lower part, and is overflowed onto the adsorption surface 106 of the lower surface of the transfer head base body 101 through the adsorption surface opening 107 until the whole adsorption surface 106 area is infiltrated, and a certain droplet height is formed relative to the lower surface of the transfer head base body 101.
As shown in fig. 6 (b) and (c), when the transfer head is brought close to the micro LED 201 and the liquid droplet on the suction surface 106 touches the micro LED 201, the liquid droplet wets the surface of the micro LED 201 to suck the micro LED 201, and the working liquid 600 becomes an "adhesive" between the transfer head 100 and the micro LED 201; the working liquid 600 causes a large force between the transfer head 100 and the micro-LEDs 201 by surface tension, which is greater than the force holding the micro-LEDs 201 to the carrier substrate, which may include, but is not limited to, gravity, capillary forces, viscous effects, elastic restoring forces, van der waals forces, stiction forces. At this time, the micro LEDs 201 are picked up by the transfer head 100 and moved following the transfer head 100 by adhering to the working liquid 600, and the pickup of the micro LEDs 201 is realized.
The release micro LED 201 process as shown in fig. 7: as shown in fig. 7 (a), (b), the control board 300 is used to control the elimination of the voltage difference between the upper electrode 109 and the lower electrode 110, the hydrophobic dielectric material layer 105 laid on the surface of the lower electrode 110 changes from hydrophilic to hydrophobic again, and the working fluid 600 will be contracted from the area of the lower electrode 110 into the return channel 102; as shown in fig. 7 (b) and (c), when the operating liquid 600 flows back to a certain extent, the operating liquid 600 adhering to the surface of the micro LED 201 is separated from the operating liquid 600 in the flow channel 102, the micro LED 201 is no longer adhered to the transfer head by the operating liquid 600, and the micro LED 201 falls off from the adsorption surface 106, thereby releasing the micro LED 201 from the transfer head.
When the above-mentioned pick-up and release operations are realized, the surface energy of the working liquid 600 is not greater than the surface energy of the hydrophilic layer 103 and the surface energy of the hydrophobic dielectric material layer 105 when a voltage difference is applied, and is greater than the surface energy of the hydrophobic layer 104 and the surface energy of the hydrophobic dielectric material layer 105 when a voltage difference is not applied. Equivalent expressions are: the working liquid 600 and the hydrophilic layer 103, the hydrophobic dielectric material layer 105 when a voltage difference is applied, are rendered hydrophilic, and the working liquid 600 and the hydrophobic layer 104, the hydrophobic dielectric material layer 105 when a voltage difference is not applied, are rendered hydrophobic. As used herein, "hydrophobic" and "hydrophilic" are not intended to be limited to water (H)2O) and represents the wettability or repellency to the working fluid 600.
In this embodiment, the materials of the working liquid 600, the hydrophilic layer 103, the hydrophobic dielectric material layer 105 and the hydrophobic layer 104 are selected to have various combinations, including but not limited to the combinations in table 1:
table 1 working liquid 600, hydrophilic layer 103, hydrophobic layer 104, micro LED 201 combinations
Figure DEST_PATH_DEST_PATH_IMAGE001
Description of the drawings: due to the structure and material of the micro LED chip, the surface of the micro LED chip often contains metal electrode materials such as gold, silver, and aluminum, and semiconductor materials such as gallium nitride and sapphire, and the equivalent surface energy of the micro LED chip is generally greater than 40 dynes/cm due to the existence of the metal materials.
It should be understood, however, that the combination of the working liquid 600, the hydrophilic layer 103, the hydrophobic layer 104, and the hydrophobic dielectric material layer 105 is not limited to the combination listed in table 1, and the combination formed according to the above-mentioned conditions is not limited to the combination of the various embodiments of the present invention.
In the above embodiment, the transfer head base 101 has a cylindrical shape at the middle lower portion; since the flow paths 102 of the adjacent transfer heads 100 are communicated with each other at the upper portions thereof, the upper portions of the transfer heads 100 are preferably formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape so that the upper portions of the transfer head bases 101 are arranged in alignment on the lower surface of the control substrate 300 to form an array of the transfer heads 100 so that a certain gap is formed between the lower portions of the transfer heads 100.
Preferably, a second embodiment of the present invention provides a transfer head and a transfer head array having a simpler structure, while maintaining the functions and structures of the first embodiment.
As shown in fig. 8, 9 and 10, compared with the first embodiment, the difference in structure is that the shape of the middle-lower portion of the transfer head base 101 is regular hexahedron, so that the manufacturing process of the array of transfer heads 100 is simpler. Because the hydrophobic layer 104 is laid on the outer side of the bottom surface of the transfer head substrate 101, the liquid drops soaked at the openings 107 of the adsorption surfaces of two adjacent transfer heads 100 are separated in the area of the hydrophobic layer 104.
As shown in fig. 11, a schematic diagram of the process of the second embodiment of the present invention for the flow of the working liquid and the picking up of the micro LED when the potential difference is applied; fig. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating the process of the second embodiment of the present invention for the flow of the working liquid and the release of the micro LED when the potential difference is applied.
As shown in fig. 13, 14 and 15, based on the transfer heads and the transfer head arrays described in the first and second embodiments, the present invention provides a method for transferring a large number of micro LEDs 201, so as to utilize the transfer head 100 array to transfer and fix the micro LEDs 201 on an epitaxial substrate 400 to a target substrate 500; the method comprises the following steps:
(1) as shown in fig. 13 (a), a single micro LED 201 is fabricated by processing an LED epitaxial layer grown on an epitaxial substrate 400 by etching or the like, and the micro LED 201 is connected to the epitaxial substrate 400 by a connection anchor 401;
(2) as shown in fig. 13 (b), the connection anchor 401 between the micro LED 201 and the epitaxial substrate 400 is broken by contacting the micro LED 201 with the transfer head 100 and pressing against the epitaxial substrate 400;
(3) as shown in (c) of fig. 13, before, simultaneously with, or after step (2), applying a potential difference between the upper electrode 109 and the lower electrode 110 of the printhead 100 by using the control substrate 300, the hydrophobic dielectric material layer 105 on the surface of the electrowetting lower electrode 110 changes from hydrophobic to hydrophilic, so that the working liquid 600 flows to the adsorption surface 106, and the working liquid 600 adheres to the micro LED 201 to pick up the micro LED 201;
(4) as shown in fig. 14 (a), the transfer head 100 is moved to align the micro LEDs 201 with the pre-placed target substrate 500, and a certain pressure is applied to the micro LEDs 201 to bring the pre-fabricated electrodes on the micro LEDs 201 into contact with the electrode connecting material 501 pre-fabricated on the target substrate 500;
(5) as shown in fig. 14 (b), the electrode connecting material 501 is heated or bonded to connect and fix the micro LED 201 and the pre-fabricated circuit of the target substrate 500;
(6) as shown in (c) of fig. 14, the potential difference between the upper electrode 109 and the lower electrode 110 of the transfer head 100 is cancelled by the control substrate 300, the hydrophobic dielectric material layer 105 on the surface of the lower electrode 110 changes from hydrophilic to hydrophobic again, the working liquid 600 adhered to the transfer head adsorption surface 106 and the surface of the micro LED 201 has a tendency to flow back to the internal flow channel 102 of the transfer head, since the micro LED 201 is already fixed on the target substrate 500, the transfer head 100 is lifted, the continuous working liquid 600 is pulled apart against the surface tension of the working liquid 600, the micro LED 201 is separated from the working liquid 600, and the release of the micro LED 201 is completed.
The electrode connecting material 501 includes, but is not limited to, a solder ball, a conductive adhesive, a unidirectional conductive adhesive, or the like.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the present invention fall within the scope of the claims of the present invention and their equivalents, the present invention is also intended to include such modifications and variations.

Claims (12)

1. An electrowetting transfer head is characterized by comprising a transfer head substrate, a hydrophobic dielectric material layer, an upper electrode and a lower electrode, the transfer printing head base body is provided with a flow channel which is communicated up and down, the bottom of the flow channel is provided with an adsorption surface opening, lower electrodes are laid on the inner side of the bottom surface of the transfer printing head base body close to the adsorption surface opening and the lower part of the inner wall of the flow channel, a hydrophobic dielectric material layer is laid on the surface of the lower electrode, a hydrophilic layer is laid on the inner wall of the flow channel outside the hydrophobic dielectric material layer, the outer side of the bottom surface of the transfer head base body is paved with a hydrophobic layer, the flow channel is filled with working liquid in the area where the hydrophilic layer is paved, the upper electrode extends into the working liquid from the top surface of the transfer head base body, and is always kept in contact with the working liquid, and an electrowetting power supply capable of applying or eliminating potential difference is connected between the upper electrode and the lower electrode through a lead or a circuit wiring.
2. An electrowetting transfer head according to claim 1, wherein said working liquid is one of water, an inorganic aqueous solution, an organic aqueous solution, a vegetable oil, a mineral oil or a liquid metal.
3. An electrowetting transfer head according to claim 1, wherein the material of the hydrophilic layer is one of epoxy, polyethylene, polyacrylonitrile, polysulfone or polyvinyl alcohol.
4. An electrowetting transfer head according to claim 1, wherein the material of the hydrophobic layer is polytetrafluoroethylene or polyhexafluoropropylene, or a material with a nano-surface hydrophobic structure.
5. An electrowetting transfer head according to claim 1, wherein the material of the hydrophobic dielectric material layer is polytetrafluoroethylene or polyhexafluoropropylene.
6. The utility model provides a little LED transfer printing head array which characterized in that, includes the transfer printing head and can carry out the control substrate of addressing operation according to the signal of telecommunication, the top surface of transfer printing head closely arranges in control substrate's bottom surface in order to form the transfer printing head array, and is adjacent the runner of transfer printing head communicates each other in its upper portion, and hydrophilic layer has all been laid to the passageway inner wall that is linked together, the last pressure adjustment hole that is provided with a plurality of tops with the runner and is linked together that is provided with of control substrate, the last electrode and the bottom electrode of transfer printing head are connected through the circuit that corresponds in electrode lead and the control substrate respectively to make control substrate can carry out addressing control to single transfer printing head.
7. The array of micro LED transfer heads according to claim 6, wherein the micro LEDs have dimensions in the range of 0.1 micron to 1000 micron.
8. The array of micro LED transfer heads according to claim 6, wherein a hydraulic or pneumatic control device is connected to the pressure regulating holes.
9. The array of micro LED transfer heads according to claim 6, wherein the control substrate is a TFT substrate.
10. The array of micro LED transfer heads according to claim 6, wherein the shape of the lower middle portion of the transfer head is hexahedral or cylindrical.
11. A micro LED bulk transfer method is characterized by comprising the following steps:
manufacturing a micro LED on an LED epitaxial layer grown on an epitaxial substrate by an etching process, wherein the micro LED is connected with the epitaxial substrate through a connection anchor point;
the transfer printing head is used for contacting the micro LED and pressing the micro LED to the epitaxial substrate, and a connecting anchor point between the micro LED and the epitaxial substrate is broken through pressing;
the transfer head picks up the micro LEDs;
moving the transfer printing head to enable the micro LED to be aligned to a preset target substrate, and applying certain pressure to the micro LED to enable a prefabricated electrode on the micro LED to be in contact with an electrode connecting material prefabricated on the target substrate;
connecting and fixing the micro LED and the prefabricated circuit of the target substrate by the electrode connecting material in a heating or bonding mode;
the transfer head releases the micro LEDs.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the electrode connecting material is one of a solder ball, a conductive paste, or a unidirectional conductive paste.
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