Preferred methods for producing electrical circuit elements used to control an electronic display

• US 6,413,790 B1
• Filed: 07/21/2000
• Issued: 07/02/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: E Ink Holdings Incorporated
• Original Assignee: E Ink Holdings Incorporated
• Inventors: Drzaic, Paul S., Kazlas, Peter T., Amundson, Karl R., Wang, Jianna, Duthaler, Gregg
• Primary Examiner(s): Nelms, David
• Assistant Examiner(s): Le, Thao P
• Application Number:
  US09/621,049
• Time in Patent Office: 711 Days
• Field of Search: 438/21, 438/22, 438/38, 347/40, 347/43, 347/70
• US Class Current: 438/21
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 80/00 Products made by additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: B82Y 30/00 Nanotechnology for materials or surface science, e.g. nanocomposites
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/00 Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 10/466 Lateral bottom-gate IGFETs comprising only a single gate
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 10/468 characterised by the gate dielectrics
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 30/00 Organic devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation integrated devices or assemblies of multiple devices H10K39/00, H10K65/00; electrolytic light-sensitive devices H01G9/20
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 50/11 characterised by the electroluminescent [EL] layers
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 59/00 Integrated devices, or assemblies of multiple devices, comprising at least one organic light-emitting element covered by group H10K50/00
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 71/13 using printing techniques, e.g. ink-jet printing or screen printing

Abstract

Systems and methods for producing thin film transistor structures useful in controlling electronic displays. Thin film transistors are fabricated using all-additive methods including printing techniques, soft lithography and material deposition methods. The thin film transistors can be deposited with the gate on the bottom or on the top of the structure. The deposition methods include the possibility of isolating nearly completely the transistor structure from the electronic display devices, so as to minimize or eliminate deleterious interactions therebetween.

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing an addressing device for an electronic display comprising:

a) providing a substrate; and

b) fabricating the addressing device adjacent a surface of the substrate by;

(i) treating said surface to control one of a contact angle of a liquid with said surface, a surface roughness and a surface energy; and

(ii) printing at least one circuit element of the addressing device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said contact angle is controlled to be less than 90 degrees.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said contact angle is controlled to be less than 60 degrees.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein printing at least one circuit element of the addressing device comprises printing at least one circuit element of the addressing device wherein said at least one circuit element has a thickness of at least 0.1 micron.

5. A method of manufacturing an addressing device for an electronic display comprising:

a) providing a substrate; and

b) fabricating the addressing device adjacent a surface of the substrate by printing at least one circuit element by;

(i) screen printing a gate structure;

(ii) ink jet printing a dielectric material and a semiconductor;

(iii) screen printing coarse features of a source structure and a drain structure; and

(iv) printing by use of soft lithography high resolution features of the source structure and the drain structure.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein screen printing involves using a conductive paste.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the conductive paste has a viscosity between about 1000 cP and about 50000 cP.

8. The method of claim 5 further including printing an encapsulant for protecting a portion of said addressing device.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein ink jet printing includes ink jet printing at least one circuit element using an ink having a viscosity of less than about 100 cP.

10. The method of claim 5 wherein ink jet printing includes inkjet printing at least one circuit element using a plurality of particles that are smaller than ¼

of a diameter of an orifice of an ink jet head.

11. The method of claim 5 wherein ink jet printing includes ink jet printing at least one circuit element using a plurality of particles that are smaller than {fraction (1/10)} of a diameter of an orifice of an ink jet head.

12. The method of claim 5 wherein ink jet printing includes ink jet printing at least one circuit element using an ink comprising a semiconductor dissolved in a solvent.

13. The method of claim 5 wherein ink jet printing includes ink jet printing at least one circuit element using an ink comprising a dielectric material dissolved in a solvent.

14. The method of claim 5 wherein ink jet printing includes ink jet printing at least one circuit element by moving an ink jet head relative to the substrate at a speed U, wherein U is less than the quantity 2RF, where R is a drop radius and F is a drop ejection frequency.

15. The method of claim 5 wherein ink jet printing includes freezing an ink jet drop upon the substrate upon impact.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein an ink jet drop is frozen by independent control of the substrate temperature.

17. The method of claim 5 wherein printing by use of soft lithography includes printing at least one circuit element by microcontact printing using one of an elastomeric stamp and a rigid stamp.

18. The method of claim 5 wherein printing by use of soft lithography includes printing through one of a contact mask and a proximity mask.

19. The method of claim 5 wherein printing by use of soft lithography includes printing at least one circuit element using one of evaporation, sputtering and chemical vapor deposition.

20. The method of claim 5 wherein printing by use of soft lithography includes printing at least one circuit element by transferring an ink from a mold to the substrate and curing the ink.

21. The method of claim 5 wherein the ink jet printed semiconductor material is selected from the class of materials consisting of polythiophenes, oligothiophenes, polythienylenevinylene, polyphenylenevinylene, and their derivatives, and colloidal suspensions of inorganic semiconductive particles.

22. The method of claim 5 wherein the ink jet printed insulating material is selected from the class of materials consisting of soluble polymers, glasses, inorganic films, and composite materials.

23. The method of claim 5 wherein an ink jet printing step is replaced by a printing step involving a vacuum based process selected from evaporation, sputtering, reactive gas processing and chemical vapor deposition.

24. The method of claim 5 wherein a screen printing step is replaced by a printing step involving a vacuum based process selected from evaporation, sputtering, reactive gas processing and chemical vapor deposition.

25. The method of claim 5 wherein a step involving printing using soft lithography is replaced by a printing step involving a vacuum based process selected from evaporation, sputtering, reactive gas processing and chemical vapor deposition.

26. The method of claim 5 wherein a plurality of, but not all, steps are replaced by a plurality of printing steps, each of the plurality of printing steps involving a vacuum based process selected from evaporation, sputtering, reactive gas processing and chemical vapor deposition.