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

这个小型企业技术转移（STTR）第一阶段项目的重点是芯片制造，以创造微型发光二极管（led）。微型led是一种半导体芯片，当电流通过时就会发光。微型led将有利于虚拟现实和增强现实（VR/AR）技术。VR/AR是一种沉浸式技术，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来实现各种平台和地点的广泛可用性和可访问性。由于需要在紧凑的形式中具有足够亮度的高分辨率图像，因此显示器离眼睛更近的应用非常昂贵。微型led显示屏是一种领先的解决方案，但目前的芯片制造对于消费级设备来说产量低，成本过高。该项目将提供一种创新的工艺，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。这个过程更简单，更便宜，并且与工业上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）第一阶段项目将研究微型图案QD颜色转换器的使用，以减轻对红色，绿色和蓝色微型led的拾取组装的需求。目前的技术水平是一种拾取-放置方法，具有严重的局限性和不足的产量。目标是从几乎零缺陷的外延晶片上挑选和放置数百万个亚像素。这个问题是当今微型led总体成本的主要贡献者。这种技术将采取不同的方法来实现高分辨率的全彩。它将使用颜色转换器，通过一个提升过程，以数量级减少步骤的数量。对于VR，显示分辨率必须达到每英寸1000像素，这可能很难通过标准方法实现。对于AR，要求甚至更高。新工艺将实现极高的分辨率，并将适用于各种颜色转换材料，包括最常见的量子点。该技术还有一个重要的好处，即未使用的量子点可以回收和再利用。这个STTR第一阶段项目的结果将是一个原型，证明该方法在静态背板上产生高分辨率量子点图案的可行性。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.