CN112466800B - Electrowetting transfer printing head, transfer printing head array and micro-LED mass transfer method - Google Patents

Electrowetting transfer printing head, transfer printing head array and micro-LED mass transfer method Download PDF

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Publication number
CN112466800B
CN112466800B CN202110093322.5A CN202110093322A CN112466800B CN 112466800 B CN112466800 B CN 112466800B CN 202110093322 A CN202110093322 A CN 202110093322A CN 112466800 B CN112466800 B CN 112466800B
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transfer printing
micro
transfer
printing head
substrate
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CN112466800A (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 an electrowetting transfer printing head, transfer printing head array and micro LED huge quantity transfer method, includes transfer printing head and can carry out the control base plate of addressing operation according to the electrical signal, the top surface of transfer printing head closely arranges in the bottom surface of control base plate in order to form the transfer printing head array, adjacent the runner of transfer printing head is in its upper portion intercommunication each other, and hydrophilic layer has all been laid to the passageway inner wall that is linked together, be provided with a plurality of pressure regulation holes that are linked together with the top of runner on the control base plate, the upper electrode and the lower electrode of transfer printing head are connected with the circuit that corresponds in the control base plate through the electrode lead respectively to make control base plate can carry out addressing control to single transfer printing head. Each transfer printing head of the transfer printing 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 adhesion is adopted, and no special requirements are made on the geometric shape, the surface morphology and the electromagnetic characteristics of the micro LEDs.

Description

Electrowetting transfer printing head, transfer printing head array and micro-LED mass transfer method
Technical Field
The invention relates to a micro-device transfer printing head and a micro-LED mass transfer method, in particular to an electrowetting transfer printing head, a transfer printing head array and a micro-LED mass transfer method.
Background
The dominant technologies in the display market today are liquid crystal displays (Liquid Crystal Display, LCD) and organic light emitting diodes (Organic Light Emitting Diode, OLED). Micro LED (Micro-LED) display technology is a pixel unit using an LED chip of 1 to 100 micrometers (μm) unit as a display, and has the outstanding advantages of high quantum efficiency, high contrast, high viewing angle, high color gamut, extremely fast corresponding time, easy transparent display, long life, etc., compared to LCD and OLED display technologies, 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 macro transfer. Since micro LEDs are as small as 1 μm to 100 μm in size, conventional pick & place equipment cannot be used, and a transfer technique for transferring with higher accuracy is required. With respect to such transfer techniques, several configurations are disclosed as described below, but each of the disclosed techniques has several drawbacks.
The company LuxVue, usa, discloses a method of achieving electrostatic attraction by means of an electrostatic head to transfer micro LEDs (chinese registered patent application number: CN 201280067417.9). The disadvantage of this approach is that: there is a demand for flatness of the surface of the transfer object and dielectric properties of the transfer object. X-Celebrint in the United states 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 Kokai publication TW 201730095A). The disadvantage of this approach is that: it is difficult to locally operate individual LEDs. Korean praise corporation discloses a method of vacuum adsorption and release of micro LEDs by constituting an adsorption surface with a porous material (chinese registered patent application No. CN 201910433371.1). The disadvantage of this approach is that: no local operation can be performed on individual LEDs. InnovaSonic, inc. of the United states discloses a method of selectively separating and transferring micro-LEDs adhered to an adhesive polymer using ultrasonic energy or ultraviolet laser directed at the object (U.S. Pat. No. 10249520 B2). The disadvantage of this approach is that: it is difficult to locally operate individual LEDs. The company selfsaray discloses a method of automatically uniformly distributing micro-LEDs with magnetism on a substrate by a periodic array of magnetic poles (U.S. patent publication No. US 2018/0261570 A1). The disadvantage of this approach is that: it is difficult to locally operate individual LEDs. And it is difficult to individually transfer the different color micro LEDs. United states Uniqarta discloses a method of separating a micro LED and a substrate by laser irradiation, thereby achieving micro LED transfer through an intermediate substrate and two laser shots (chinese registered patent application number: CN 201880002383.2). The disadvantage of this approach is that: it is difficult to locally operate individual LEDs. China Brilliant photoelectric company discloses a method for realizing Micro LED transfer printing by putting a driving circuit board and Micro LEDs into a solution, wherein Micro LED chips are fixedly arranged on the driving circuit board under the action of magnetic force (China registered patent application number: CN 201710561814.6). The disadvantage of this approach is that: the Micro LED chip and the target substrate need to be prefabricated with magnetism, and local operation cannot be carried out on a single LED, so that China Huaxing photoelectric company reveals that the transfer printing of the Micro LED is realized by arranging a thermal-loss adhesive layer on an intermediate substrate and adopting the viscosity of the thermal-loss adhesive layer to control the temperature (China registration patent application number: CN 201911250235.5). The disadvantage of this approach is that: it is difficult to locally operate individual LEDs. The chinese eastern company of genitals discloses a transfer printing method for transferring micro LEDs using an electrostrictive device to perform electric-to-telescopic operation as a transfer printing head for the micro LEDs (chinese registered patent application number: CN 201910243046.9). The disadvantage of this approach is that: the micro-LED has strict requirements on the shape of the micro-LED, the structure of the transfer printing head is complex, and the processing and repairing costs are high. The three-safety photoelectric company in China discloses a method for adhering micro LEDs by adopting a photoetching material and releasing the micro LEDs by adopting a photoetching process so as to realize micro LED transfer printing (China registered patent application number: CN 201711153705.7). The disadvantage of this approach is that: the single LED cannot be locally operated, the process is complex, the transfer printing is carried out once, and the processes of gluing, heating, laser etching, photoresist removal and the like are needed, so that the speed is low. The three-safety photoelectric company of China discloses a micro LED transfer printing method which consists of a carrying disc, a conveying belt, a decomposable adhesive, an extrusion device and a release device (China registered patent application number: CN 201711426885.1). The disadvantage of this approach is that: the operation of a single micro LED is difficult, and the requirements on the synchronous operation of a carrier disc and a transmission belt, the deformation control of the transmission belt and the like are high. The micro-electronic company of Tianma in China discloses a columnar bump made of high-heat-conductivity material and a heat-sensitive adhesive for picking up and releasing micro LEDs by controlling the temperature (China registered patent application number: CN 201811228521.7). The disadvantage of this approach is that: local temperature control is difficult for individual LEDs and the transfer head needs to be re-glued once per transfer.
The prior inventions 1 to 12 described above have requirements such as failure to operate individual micro LEDs or pre-fabricated magnetism or specific shape for micro LEDs, respectively.
(patent document 1) chinese registered patent application number: CN201280067417.9
(patent document 2) taiwan laid-open patent publication No.: TW 201730095A
(patent document 3) U.S. patent No.: US 10249520 B2
(patent document 4) chinese registered patent application number: CN 201880002383.2
(patent document 5) chinese registered patent application number: CN 201911250235.5
(patent document 6) chinese registered patent application number: CN 201910243046.9
(patent document 7) chinese registered patent application number: CN 201711426885.1
(patent document 8) chinese registered patent application number: CN 201811228521.7
Disclosure of Invention
In order to solve the problems, the invention provides an electrowetting transfer head and a micro-LED mass transfer method, which concretely comprises the following technical scheme:
the utility model provides an electrowetting transfer printing head, includes transfer printing head base member, hydrophobic dielectric material layer, upper electrode and lower electrode, the runner that link up from top to bottom has been seted up to the transfer printing head base member, the bottom of runner is the adsorption plane trompil, is close to the adsorption plane trompil the inboard of transfer printing head base member bottom surface and the lower part of runner inner wall all lays the lower electrode, hydrophobic dielectric material layer is laid on the surface of lower electrode, hydrophilic layer has been laid to the runner inner wall beyond the hydrophobic dielectric material layer, hydrophobic layer is laid to the outside of transfer printing head base member bottom surface, the runner is full of the operating fluid in the region of laying hydrophilic layer, the upper electrode extends to in the operating fluid from the top surface of transfer printing head base member, and keeps contacting with the operating fluid all the time, be connected with the electrowetting power supply that can applys or eliminate the potential difference through wire or circuit wiring between upper electrode and the lower electrode.
Further, the working liquid is one of water, inorganic aqueous solution, organic aqueous solution, vegetable oil, mineral oil or liquid metal.
Further, the hydrophilic layer is made of one of epoxy resin, polyethylene, polyacrylonitrile, polysulfone or polyvinyl alcohol.
Further, the material of the hydrophobic layer is polytetrafluoroethylene or polyhexafluoropropene or a material with a nano-surface hydrophobic structure.
Further, the material of the hydrophobic dielectric material layer is polytetrafluoroethylene or polyhexafluoropropene.
The utility model provides a little LED transfer printing head array, includes the transfer printing head and can carry out the control base plate of addressing operation according to the signal of telecommunication, the top surface of transfer printing head closely arranges in control base plate's bottom surface in order to form the transfer printing head array, 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, be provided with a plurality of pressure regulation holes that are linked together with the top of runner on the control base plate, the upper electrode and the lower electrode of transfer printing head are connected with the circuit that corresponds in the control base plate through the electrode lead respectively to make control base plate can carry out addressing control to single transfer printing head.
Further, the micro-LEDs range in scale from on the order of 0.1 microns to 1000 microns.
Further, the pressure regulating hole is connected with a hydraulic regulating device or an air pressure control device.
Further, the control substrate is a TFT substrate.
Further, the transfer head has a shape of a hexahedral or cylindrical lower part.
A micro-LED mass transfer method comprises the following steps:
(1) Manufacturing a micro-LED by an etching processing technology through an LED epitaxial layer grown on an epitaxial substrate, wherein the micro-LED is connected with the epitaxial substrate through a connecting anchor point;
(2) The transfer printing head is used for contacting the micro-LEDs and pressing the micro-LEDs to the epitaxial substrate, and the connecting anchor points between the micro-LEDs and the epitaxial substrate are broken;
(3) The transfer printing head picks up micro LEDs;
(4) Moving the transfer printing head to enable the micro-LEDs to be aligned with a pre-placed target substrate, and applying certain pressure to the micro-LEDs to enable the pre-electrodes on the micro-LEDs to be in contact with the pre-electrode connecting materials on the target substrate;
(5) Connecting and fixing the micro-LEDs 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 LED.
Further, the electrode connecting material is one of solder balls, conductive adhesive or unidirectional conductive adhesive.
The invention has the beneficial effects that:
(1) Each transfer head of the transfer head array can be individually addressed to realize batch transfer or selective transfer of a large number of micro LEDs.
(2) The working liquid is adopted for adhesion, so that no special requirement is made on the geometric shape, the surface morphology and the electromagnetic property of the micro-LEDs.
(3) The adsorption capacity of the transfer printing head is irrelevant to the transfer printing times, and the adsorption capacity is kept unchanged by only periodically updating the working liquid.
(4) For example, a volatile liquid such as distilled water or ethanol is used as the transfer working liquid, and a subsequent cleaning process is not required.
Drawings
Fig. 1 is a diagram of the physical phenomena on which the invention is based: the electrowetting effect is schematically illustrated.
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 a pressure adjustment aperture according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 4 is a cutaway isometric illustration of a transfer head and a transfer head array according to a first embodiment of the invention.
Fig. 5 is another cutaway isometric illustration of a transfer head and transfer head array according to a first embodiment of the 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 in accordance with a first embodiment of the 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 cutaway isometric illustration of a transfer head and a transfer head array according to a second embodiment of the invention.
Fig. 10 is another cutaway isometric illustration of a transfer head and transfer head array according to a second embodiment of the 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 invention.
Fig. 12 is a schematic illustration of a liquid filled transfer head array release micro LED process in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention.
Fig. 13 is a schematic illustration of a process of picking up micro LEDs from an epitaxial substrate by a liquid filled transfer head array according to a third embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 14 is a schematic illustration of a placement of micro LEDs onto a target substrate by a liquid filled transfer head array in accordance with a third embodiment of the invention.
Fig. 15 is a flowchart of a transfer head array completing a primary micro LED transfer process according to a third embodiment of the present invention.
In the figure:
100: a transfer head;
101: a transfer head substrate;
102: a flow passage;
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: and (3) working liquid.
Detailed Description
The following merely illustrates the principles of the invention. Therefore, although not explicitly described or illustrated in the present specification, those skilled in the art can implement the principles of the invention and the invention includes various devices within the concept and scope of the invention. In addition, it should be understood that all conditional terms and embodiments recited in the present specification are principally intended expressly to be only for understanding the inventive concept and are not to be limited to the specifically recited embodiments and states.
The embodiments described in the present specification will be described with reference to cross-sectional views and/or perspective views as ideal illustrations of the present invention. For the purpose of effectively explaining the technical content, thicknesses of the films and regions, diameters of the holes, and the like shown in these drawings are exaggeratedly represented. The form of the illustration is deformed by manufacturing techniques and/or tolerance errors. The number of micro LEDs shown in the drawings is only partially shown by way of example in the drawings. Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention also include variations in morphology that occur according to the manufacturing process, and are not limited to the particular morphology illustrated.
In describing various embodiments, the same names and the same reference numerals are given to constituent elements that perform the same functions for convenience even though the embodiments are different. For convenience, the constitution and operation described in the other embodiments are omitted.
The term "micro" device or "micro" LED structure as used herein may refer to the 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 accompanying drawings and specific embodiments:
the invention discloses a micro-device transfer printing head based on an electrowetting effect. Micro-devices are referred to herein as 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 some embodiments, the array of micro LED devices ready 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 hundred million micro-LED devices with a 10 μm by 10 μm pitch, or approximately 6.60 hundred million micro-LED devices with a 5 μm by 5 μm pitch. A transfer tool including an array of transfer heads that match the pitch of the corresponding micro LED device array can be used to pick up and transfer the micro LED device array to a receiving substrate. In this way, it is possible to integrate and assemble micro LED devices into heterogeneous integrated systems, including substrates of any size ranging from micro displays to large area displays, and at high transfer rates. For example, a1 cm ×1 cm micro device transfer head array can pick up and transfer more than 100000 micro devices, where a larger micro device transfer head array can transfer 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 layer of hydrophobic dielectric material layer 105 is paved on the surface of the lower electrode 110 plate, the liquid drop forms a shape similar to a water drop on the lotus leaf surface on the hydrophobic dielectric material layer 105, and the contact angle theta of the liquid drop is larger; an upper electrode 109 is inserted into the droplet, a voltage difference is applied between the upper electrode 109 and a lower electrode 110, the hydrophobic dielectric material layer 105 laid on the surface of the lower electrode 110 is converted into hydrophilicity, the droplet spreads, and the droplet contact angle θ becomes small.
Based on the above electrowetting effect, an electrowetting transfer head can be designed, so as to realize the pick-up and release of micro devices, and the method specifically comprises the following steps:
as shown in fig. 3 and 4, an electrowetting transfer head includes a transfer head substrate 101, a hydrophobic dielectric material layer 105, an upper electrode 109 and a lower electrode 110, where the transfer head substrate 101 is provided with a runner 102 that penetrates up and down, and an adsorption surface opening 107 is formed at the bottom of the runner 102 and forms an adsorption surface 106; the inner side of the bottom surface of the transfer printing head base body 101 close to the adsorption surface opening 107 and the lower part of the inner wall of the runner 102 are paved with a lower electrode 110, the surface of the lower electrode 110 is paved with a hydrophobic dielectric material layer 105, the inner wall of the runner 102 outside the hydrophobic dielectric material layer 105 is paved with a hydrophilic layer 103, the outer side of the bottom surface of the transfer printing head base body 101 is paved with a hydrophobic layer 104, the runner 102 is filled with working liquid 600 in the area paved with the hydrophilic layer 103, the upper electrode 109 extends from the top surface of the transfer printing head base body 101 into the working liquid 600 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 wire or a circuit wiring.
Wherein the transfer head substrate 101 provides a bearing function for each functional component of the transfer head 100, which 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, high molecular polymer materials such as Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), inorganic materials such as quartz, glass, silicon, ceramics, metals and metal alloys, and combinations of materials.
Specifically, the working liquid 600 includes, but is not limited to, water, inorganic aqueous solution, organic aqueous solution, vegetable oil, mineral oil, or liquid metal; the flow channels 102 inside the transfer head base 101 provide a space for the working fluid 600 to store, flow, and transfer, the shape of which includes but is not limited to the shape of the present embodiment. When no potential difference is applied between the upper electrode 109 and the lower electrode 110 by the electrowetting power supply, the region of the flow path 102 other than the lower electrode 110 is 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), polyvinyl alcohol (PEG), etc.; the materials of 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 polyhexafluoropropene, and the hydrophobic layer 104 may also be a nano-surface hydrophobic structure material.
Based on the electrowetting transfer head 100 described above, a micro LED transfer head array may be designed to effect transfer of micro devices 200, such as micro LED 201 devices. The method comprises the following steps:
as shown in fig. 2-5, a micro LED transfer head array includes a transfer head 100 and a control substrate 300 capable of performing an addressing operation according to an electrical signal, 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 adjacent to the transfer head 100 are mutually communicated at the upper parts thereof, hydrophilic layers 103 are laid on the inner walls of the communicated channels, a plurality of pressure regulating holes 108 communicated with the tops of the flow channels 102 are arranged on the control substrate 300, and the upper electrodes 109 and the lower electrodes 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 the addressing control on the single transfer head 100 to realize batch transfer or selective transfer of a large number of micro LEDs 201.
Wherein, the control substrate 300 may be, but is not limited to, a TFT substrate, as long as a substrate capable of performing address control can be used in the present invention; the lower end of the upper electrode 109 of the transfer printing 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 printing head matrix 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 conduct independent power-on and power-off control between the upper electrode 109 and the lower electrode 110 of each transfer printing head 100, so that the electrodes of the single transfer printing head 100 can be addressed and controlled, independent control of the transfer printing head 100 is realized, and the micro devices 200 can be selectively picked up.
As shown in fig. 3 and 4, the pressure regulating hole 108 may be shared by several transfer heads 100, and is used for injecting the working fluid 600, and creating a pressure difference between the working fluid 600 and the outside in the flow channel 102. The pressure regulating orifice 108 is connected to a micro-pipe, which is connected to an external pressure regulating device, wherein the manner in which the pressure regulating orifice 108 regulates the pressure difference includes, but is not limited to, by connecting a hydraulic pressure regulating device and a pneumatic pressure control device. It should be noted that the suction side opening 107 pressure is equivalent to the workplace atmospheric pressure.
With the micro LED 201 transfer head array, a large number of micro devices 200 can be picked up or transferred, the micro devices 200 having dimensions in the range of 0.1 micron to 1000 microns; the micro device 200 may be a micro LED 201, and the selective pick-up process of the micro LED 201 array may be implemented by using the independent control of the control substrate 300 to the transfer head 100. The specific operation process is as follows:
the process of picking up micro LEDs 201 as shown in (a), (b) in fig. 6: the control substrate 300 is used to control the application of a voltage difference between the upper electrode 109 and the lower electrode 110, and the hydrophobic dielectric material layer 105 is changed from hydrophobic to hydrophilic due to the electrowetting effect, and the working liquid 600 wets from the hydrophilic layer 103 region in the flow channel 102 to the lower flow channel 102 region, and flows out onto the adsorption surface 106 on the lower surface of the transfer head substrate 101 through the adsorption surface opening 107 until the whole adsorption surface 106 region is wetted, and forms a certain droplet height with respect to the lower surface of the transfer head substrate 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 passes through the surface tension such that there is a large force between the transfer head 100 and the micro-LEDs 201 that 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, static friction forces. At this time, the micro LED 201 is picked up by the transfer head 100 by adhering to the working liquid 600 and moves following the transfer head 100, thereby achieving the pickup of the micro LED 201.
The process of releasing micro LED 201 as shown in fig. 7: as shown in fig. 7 (a) and (b), the control substrate 300 is used to control the upper electrode 109 and the lower electrode 110 to eliminate the voltage difference, the hydrophobic dielectric material layer 105 laid on the surface of the lower electrode 110 is changed from hydrophilic to hydrophobic, and the working liquid 600 is retracted into the flow channel 102 from the area where the lower electrode 110 is located; as shown in fig. 7 (b) and (c), when the working liquid 600 flows back to a certain extent, the working liquid 600 adhered to the surface of the micro LED 201 will be disconnected from the working liquid 600 in the flow channel 102, the micro LED 201 and the transfer head will not be adhered by the working liquid 600, and the micro LED 201 will drop from the adsorption surface 106, so that the transfer head releases the micro LED 201.
In achieving the above-described pick-up and release operations, 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", "hydrophilic" refers not only to water (H 2 O), and represents wettability or repellency for the working liquid 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
Description: because of the structure and the material, the micro-LED chip often contains metal electrode materials such as gold, silver, aluminum and the like and semiconductor materials such as gallium nitride, sapphire and the like on the surface, and the equivalent surface energy is generally more than 40 dynes/cm due to the existence of the metal materials.
It should be understood, however, that the combinations of the working fluid 600, the hydrophilic layer 103, the hydrophobic layer 104, and the hydrophobic dielectric material layer 105 are not limited to those listed in table 1, and should not be construed as a combination of the various embodiments of the present invention, so long as the combinations meet the above-mentioned conditions.
In the above embodiment, the transfer head base 101 has a cylindrical shape at the lower part thereof; since the flow channels 102 of the adjacent transfer heads 100 are connected to 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 aligned with the lower surface of the control substrate 300 to form an array of the transfer heads 100, and a certain gap is formed between the lower portions of the transfer heads 100.
Preferably, on the basis of maintaining the functions and structures of the first embodiment, the second embodiment of the present invention provides a transfer head and a transfer head array with simpler structures.
As shown in fig. 8, 9 and 10, the difference in structure is that the shape of the lower part of the transfer head base 101 is a regular hexahedron shape, compared with the first embodiment, so that the manufacturing process of the transfer head 100 array is simpler. Since the hydrophobic layer 104 is laid on the outer side of the bottom surface of the transfer head substrate 101, the droplets infiltrated at the openings 107 of the adsorption surface 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 flowing the working liquid and picking up the micro LED when the potential difference is applied in the second embodiment; fig. 12 is a schematic diagram showing the process of flowing and releasing micro LED by the working liquid when the potential difference is applied in the second embodiment.
As shown in fig. 13, 14 and 15, the present invention provides a method for transferring a large number of micro LEDs 201 based on the transfer heads and the arrays of the transfer heads described in the first and second embodiments, so that the micro LEDs 201 on the epitaxial substrate 400 are transferred and fixed to the target substrate 500 by the arrays of the transfer heads 100; the method comprises the following steps:
(1) As shown in fig. 13 (a), the LED epitaxial layers grown on the epitaxial substrate 400 are processed by etching or the like to produce individual micro LEDs 201, and the micro LEDs 201 are connected to the epitaxial substrate 400 through connection anchors 401;
(2) As shown in (b) of fig. 13, the micro LED 201 is contacted by the transfer head 100 and pressed against the epitaxial substrate 400, and the connection anchor 401 between the micro LED 201 and the epitaxial substrate 400 is crushed;
(3) As shown in (c) of fig. 13, before, or simultaneously with, or subsequent to step (2), applying a potential difference between the upper electrode 109 and the lower electrode 110 of the transfer head 100 with the control substrate 300, the hydrophobic dielectric material layer 105 of the surface of the electrowetting-effect lower electrode 110 changes from hydrophobic to hydrophilic, and 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 LED 201 with the pre-placed target substrate 500, and a certain pressure is applied to the micro LED 201 to bring the pre-electrode on the micro LED 201 into contact with the pre-electrode connecting material 501 on the target substrate 500;
(5) As shown in (b) of fig. 14, the electrode connection material 501 connects and fixes the micro LED 201 and the pre-fabricated circuit of the target substrate 500 by heating or bonding;
(6) As shown in fig. 14 (c), the control substrate 300 is used to cancel the potential difference between the upper electrode 109 and the lower electrode 110 of the transfer head 100, the hydrophobic dielectric material layer 105 on the surface of the lower electrode 110 is changed from hydrophilic to hydrophobic again, the working liquid 600 adhering to the transfer head adsorption surface 106 and the surface of the micro LED 201 has a tendency to flow back to the flow channel 102 inside the transfer head, and since the micro LED 201 is already fixed to the target substrate 500, the transfer head 100 is lifted, the continuous working liquid 600 is broken 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.
Wherein the electrode connection material 501 includes, but is not limited to, solder balls, conductive paste, unidirectional conductive paste, or the like.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention also include such modifications and alterations insofar as they come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.

Claims (12)

1. The electrowetting transfer printing head is characterized by comprising a transfer printing head substrate, a hydrophobic dielectric material layer, an upper electrode and a lower electrode, wherein a runner which penetrates up and down is arranged on the transfer printing head substrate, an adsorption surface opening is arranged at the bottom of the runner, the lower electrode is paved on the inner side of the bottom surface of the transfer printing head substrate close to the adsorption surface opening and the lower part of the inner wall of the runner, the hydrophobic dielectric material layer is paved on the surface of the lower electrode, a hydrophilic layer is paved on the inner wall of the runner outside the hydrophobic dielectric material layer, a hydrophobic layer is paved on the outer side of the bottom surface of the transfer printing head substrate, the runner is filled with working liquid in the area paved with the hydrophilic layer, and the surface energy of the working liquid is not more than the surface energy of the hydrophilic layer and the surface energy of the hydrophobic dielectric material layer when a voltage difference is applied, and is more than the surface energy of the hydrophobic layer and the surface energy of the hydrophobic dielectric material layer when the voltage difference is not applied; the upper electrode extends from the top surface of the transfer printing head matrix into the working liquid and always keeps 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 wire or circuit wiring.
2. The electrowetting transfer head of 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 said hydrophilic layer is made of one of epoxy, polyethylene, polyacrylonitrile, polysulfone or polyvinyl alcohol.
4. An electrowetting transfer head according to claim 1, wherein the material of said hydrophobic layer is polytetrafluoroethylene or polyhexafluoropropene, or a nano-surface hydrophobic structure.
5. An electrowetting transfer head according to claim 1, wherein the material of said layer of hydrophobic dielectric material is polytetrafluoroethylene or polyhexafluoropropene.
6. A micro LED transfer printing head array, characterized by comprising the electrowetting transfer printing head according to any one of claims 1 to 5 and a control substrate capable of performing addressing operation according to electric signals, wherein the top surfaces of the transfer printing heads are closely arranged on the bottom surface of the control substrate to form the transfer printing head array, the flow channels of adjacent transfer printing heads are mutually communicated at the upper parts of the transfer printing heads, hydrophilic layers are paved on the inner walls of the communicated channels, a plurality of pressure regulating holes communicated with the tops of the flow channels are formed in the control substrate, and the upper electrodes and the lower electrodes of the transfer printing heads are respectively connected with corresponding circuits in the control substrate through electrode leads, so that the control substrate can perform addressing control on single transfer printing heads.
7. The micro LED transfer head array of claim 6, wherein the micro LEDs have dimensions in the range of 0.1 microns to 1000 microns.
8. The micro LED transfer head array of claim 6, wherein the pressure adjusting hole is connected with a hydraulic adjusting device or a pneumatic control device.
9. The micro LED transfer head array of claim 6, wherein the control substrate is a TFT substrate.
10. The micro LED transfer head array according to claim 6, wherein the transfer head base has a shape of a hexahedron or a cylinder at a lower portion thereof.
11. A micro LED macro transfer method implemented based on the micro LED transfer head array according to any one of claims 6 to 10, comprising the steps of:
(1) Manufacturing a micro-LED by an etching processing technology through an LED epitaxial layer grown on an epitaxial substrate, wherein the micro-LED is connected with the epitaxial substrate through a connecting anchor point;
(2) The transfer printing head is used for contacting the micro-LEDs and pressing the micro-LEDs to the epitaxial substrate, and the connecting anchor points between the micro-LEDs and the epitaxial substrate are broken;
(3) The transfer printing head picks up micro LEDs;
(4) Moving the transfer printing head to enable the micro-LEDs to be aligned with a pre-placed target substrate, and applying certain pressure to the micro-LEDs to enable the pre-electrodes on the micro-LEDs to be in contact with the pre-electrode connecting materials on the target substrate;
(5) Connecting and fixing the micro-LEDs 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 LED.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the electrode connection material is one of solder balls, conductive paste, or unidirectional conductive paste.
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