Flexible GAN light-emitting diodes
First Claim
1. A method of fabricating a continuous-film, crystalline, semiconductor, flexible, free-standing light-emitting diode (LED), the method comprising:
- forming an LED structure on a first rigid substrate;
attaching the LED structure to a supporting substrate using an adhesive;
using a selective laser lift-off (LLO) process through a shadow mask to separate at least a portion of the LED structure from the first rigid substrate; and
immersing the LED structure in a solvent bath to dissolve the adhesive and separate the LED structure from the rigid supporting substrate;
wherein the shadow mask comprises a masked region having low transmission and a transparent unmasked region,wherein the masked region provides coverage over at least one selected region in which the LED structure is on the first rigid substrate, andwherein the method further comprises separating a region of the first rigid substrate corresponding to the transparent unmasked region from the LED structure, while a region of the first rigid substrate corresponding to the masked region attached on the LED structure remains.
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Abstract
Methods of fabricating flexible, free-standing LED structures are provided. An LED structure can be formed on a sapphire substrate, and the surface of the LED structure can then be coated with epoxy and attached to a rigid supporting substrate. A laser lift-off process can be performed using an ultraviolent beam from a high-power pulsed-mode laser and a shadow mask, causing at least a portion of the LED structure to separate from the sapphire substrate. The structure can then be immersed in an acetone bath to dissolve the epoxy and separate the structure from the supporting substrate.
13 Citations
29 Claims
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1. A method of fabricating a continuous-film, crystalline, semiconductor, flexible, free-standing light-emitting diode (LED), the method comprising:
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forming an LED structure on a first rigid substrate; attaching the LED structure to a supporting substrate using an adhesive; using a selective laser lift-off (LLO) process through a shadow mask to separate at least a portion of the LED structure from the first rigid substrate; and immersing the LED structure in a solvent bath to dissolve the adhesive and separate the LED structure from the rigid supporting substrate; wherein the shadow mask comprises a masked region having low transmission and a transparent unmasked region, wherein the masked region provides coverage over at least one selected region in which the LED structure is on the first rigid substrate, and wherein the method further comprises separating a region of the first rigid substrate corresponding to the transparent unmasked region from the LED structure, while a region of the first rigid substrate corresponding to the masked region attached on the LED structure remains. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method of fabricating a continuous-film, crystalline, semiconductor, flexible, free-standing light-emitting diode (LED), the method comprising:
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forming an LED structure on a first rigid substrate; attaching the LED structure to a supporting substrate using an adhesive; using a selective laser lift-off (LLO) process to separate at least a portion of the LED structure from the first rigid substrate; and immersing the LED structure in a solvent bath to dissolve the adhesive and separate the LED structure from the rigid supporting substrate, wherein the LED is a GaN-based semiconductor, and wherein fowling an LED structure on a first rigid substrate comprises; creating emissive micro-pixel arrays at ends of strips that will be freely suspended after the immersing step; and creating a metal contact layer so that individual pixels can be operated independently so as to construct a micro-display panel.
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21. A method of fabricating a continuous-film, crystalline, semiconductor, flexible, free-standing light-emitting diode (LED), the method comprising:
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forming an LED structure on a first rigid substrate; attaching the LED structure to a supporting substrate using an adhesive; using a selective laser lift-off (LLO) process through a shadow mask to separate at least a portion of the LED structure from the first rigid substrate; and immersing the LED structure in a solvent bath to dissolve the adhesive and separate the LED structure from the rigid supporting substrate, wherein the LED structure is attached to at least one additional separate rigid substrate so that a curvature of the LED structure is tunable by adjusting spacing between the rigid substrates, wherein the shadow mask comprises a masked region having low transmission and a transparent unmasked region, wherein the masked region provides coverage over at least one selected region in which the LED structure is on the first rigid substrate, and wherein the method further comprises separating a region of the first rigid substrate corresponding to the transparent unmasked region from the LED structure, while a region of the first rigid substrate corresponding to the masked region attached on the LED structure remains.
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22. A method of fabricating an inorganic, continuous-film, crystalline, semiconductor, flexible LED device without attachment to a substrate, the method comprising:
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forming a GaN-based LED device from GaN-based LED wafers grown on sapphire substrates; depositing a soft metal layer onto the GaN-based LED device after forming the GaN-based LED device; and completely detaching the sapphire substrates by complete laser lift-off, after depositing the soft metal layer onto the GaN-based LED device, to form the flexible LEDs, wherein the soft metal layer is a flexible support such that the entire LED device is bent. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A method of fabricating a photonic system, the method comprising the steps of:
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fabricating a continuous-film, crystalline, semiconductor, flexible, free-standing light-emitting diode (LED); attaching one region of the LED to a second rigid substrate; and detaching the remaining regions of the LED from the second rigid substrate to form an optical waveguide of the photonic system, wherein fabricating the continuous-film, crystalline, semiconductor, flexible, free-standing LED comprises; forming an LED structure on a first rigid substrate; attaching the LED structure to a supporting substrate using an adhesive; using a selective laser lift-off (LLO) process to separate at least a portion of the LED structure from the first rigid substrate; and immersing the LED structure in a solvent bath to dissolve the adhesive and separate the LED structure from the rigid supporting substrate.
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Specification