SBIR Phase I: Electrophotographic Patterning of Flexible Backplanes

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目提议开发一种在塑料基板上制造柔性主动矩阵背板的新工艺。该背板由单个非晶硅薄膜晶体管（TFTs）组成，构成在薄塑料片上的矩阵网格模式。拟议的工艺将使用电印刷方法（激光印刷）来取代传统的光刻。背板将使用诸如等离子体增强化学气相沉积和电子照相图案等技术制造。这项创新的意义在于，与光刻相比，它将减少加工步骤的数量，降低制造成本，并与未来的卷对卷制造兼容。最终目标将是利用聚合物分散的液晶介质制造出基于这些技术的工作显示器。商业上背板被用来控制电泳和液晶显示作为射频识别（RFID）标签的一部分。背板/RFID标签的商业应用包括零售电子货架标签，航空安全行李标签和动态伪装。据估计，每年的总市场规模为330亿美元，其中美国为130亿美元，国际为200亿美元。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I Project proposes to develop a novel process for manufacturing flexible active matrix backplanes on plastic substrates. The backplane consists of individual amorphous silicon thin-film transistors (TFTs) in a matrix grid pattern fabricated on a thin sheet of plastic. The proposed process will use electrographic printing methods (laser printing) to replace conventional photolithography. The backplanes will be fabricated using techniques such as plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition and electrophotograhic patterning. The significance of this innovation is that it will reduce the number of processing steps compared to photolithography, lower manufacturing costs, and be compatible with future roll-to-roll manufacturing. The final goal will be to fabricate a working display based on these technologies using a polymer dispersed liquid-crystal medium. Commercially the backplanes are used to control both electrophoretic and liquid- crystal displays as part of a radio frequency identification (RFID) label. The commercial applications for the backplane/RFID label include retail electronic shelf labels, airline security luggage tags, and dynamic camouflaging. The total market size is estimated at $33 billion annually, with $13 billion in the United States and $20 billion internationally.