STTR Phase I: Innovating Micro-Light Emitting Diode (LED) Manufacturing with Novel Quantum Dot Micro-Patterning Technology

STTR 第一阶段：利用新型量子点微图案化技术创新微发光二极管 (LED) 制造

• 批准号: 2335283
• 负责人: Matthew Yerich
• 金额: $ 27.5万
• 依托单位: VUEMEN, INC.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-01-15 至 2024-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2335283&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: STTR; Phase; Innovating; Micro; Light

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project focusses on chip manufacturing to create micro-Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). Micro-LEDs are semiconductor chips devices that emit light when an electric current passes through them. Micro-LEDs will benefit virtual- and augmented-reality (VR/AR) technologies. VR/AR are immersive technologies that have revolutionized the way we interact with digital information and the physical world. VR/AR displays are in dire need of innovative optical technologies to achieve widespread availability and accessibility across various platforms and locations. Applications where the displays are closer to the eyes are very expensive due to the need for high resolution images with sufficient brightness in a compact form. Micro-LED displays are a leading solution, but current chip manufacturing is low-yield and cost prohibitive for consumer-grade devices. This project will provide an innovative process to overcome many chip manufacturing obstacles through the use of micro-patterned quantum-dot (QD) color converters. The process is simpler, significantly cheaper, and compatible with standard semiconductor manufacturing already employed by industry. This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project will investigate the use of micro-patterned QD color converters to mitigate the need for pick-and-place assembly of red, green, and blue micro-LEDs. The current state of the art, a pick-and-place method, has severe limitations and insufficient yield. The goal is picking and placing millions of sub-pixels from epitaxial wafers with nearly zero defects. This problem is a top contributor to the overall cost for micro-LEDs today. This technology will take a different approach to achieve full color with high resolution. It will use color converters to reduce the number of steps by orders of magnitude, through only one lift-off process. For VR, the display resolution must be 1000 pixels-per-inch, which can be challenging to achieve via standard approaches. For AR, the requirements are even higher. The new process will achieve extremely high resolution and will be suitable for a wide range of color conversion materials, including most common QDs. The technology also has the essential benefit that unused QDs can be recycled and reused. The outcome from this STTR Phase I project will be a prototype demonstrating the viability of the method to produce high-resolution QD patterns on a static backplane.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.

这个小型企业技术转移（STTR）I阶段项目重点关注芯片制造，以创建微型光发射二极管（LED）。 微型领导是半导体芯片设备，当电流通过它们时会发出光。 微型领导将使虚拟和增强现实（VR/AR）技术受益。 VR/AR是沉浸式技术，它彻底改变了我们与数字信息和物理世界互动的方式。 VR/AR显示器迫切需要创新的光学技术，以实现各种平台和位置的广泛可用性和可访问性。由于需要以紧凑的形式具有足够亮度的高分辨率图像，因此显示器更靠近眼睛的应用非常昂贵。微型主导的显示器是领先的解决方案，但是当前的芯片制造对消费级设备的设备低收益和成本效益。该项目将提供一个创新的过程，通过使用微图案量子点（QD）颜色转换器来克服许多芯片制造障碍。该过程更简单，便宜，并且与已行业已经采用的标准半导体制造兼容。这个小型企业技术转移（STTR）I阶段项目将调查使用微图案QD颜色转换器来减轻对红色，绿色和蓝色微型领导者的拾取和地组装的需求。当前的现状是一种采摘方法，具有严重的局限性和不足的收率。目标是从缺陷近零的外延晶片中挑选并放置数百万个子像素。这个问题是当今微型领导的总体成本的主要贡献者。这项技术将采用不同的方法以高分辨率获得全彩。它将使用颜色转换器通过仅通过一个升降过程来减少数量级的步骤数。对于VR，显示分辨率必须为每英寸1000个像素，这对于通过标准方法实现可能是具有挑战性的。对于AR，要求更高。新过程将达到极高的分辨率，并且适用于包括最常见的QD在内的广泛的颜色转换材料。该技术还具有基本的好处，即无用的QD可以被回收和再利用。该STTR I期项目的结果将是一个原型，证明了该方法在静态背板上产生高分辨率QD模式的生存能力。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准来评估的值得支持的。