SBIR Phase I: Photopolymer-based Microelectronic Device Transfer Process

Terecircuits Corporation, Mountain View CA

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to enable superior digital displays with better cost, power, and performance. Today's typical solutions include liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). LCDs require many layers of materials, each of which adds cost, reduces efficiency, and increases fragility; OLEDs are typically even more expensive to make and degrade faster than LCDs. This project proposes a manufacturing process for an improved display assembled from arrays of very small light sources. These displays will enable advances in many applications of low-cost, lightweight displays, such as artificial and virtual reality headsets, automotive consoles, wearables, medical devices, and mobile devices. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project develops a manufacturing process to place millions of microelectronic components, such as micro-scale light emitting diodes (microLEDs) onto substrates with the required accuracy to build functional displays. Conventional approaches use basic mechanical tooling to pick up each microLED from a source wafer and place it on the target circuit board. The objective of this project is to develop a manufacturing process consistent with yield, cost, and performance requirements. The project is based on properties of polymers related to those used in photolithography. When illuminated by light, the polymers vaporize and cause components adhered to them to be transferred to a substrate, moving millions of microLEDs in a single, cost-effective step. This research will advance this technology toward translation. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.