Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H10D—INORGANIC ELECTRIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
  • H10D86/00—Integrated devices formed in or on insulating or conducting substrates, e.g. formed in silicon-on-insulator [SOI] substrates or on stainless steel or glass substrates
  • H10D86/01—Manufacture or treatment
  • H10D86/021—Manufacture or treatment of multiple TFTs
  • H10D86/0214—Manufacture or treatment of multiple TFTs using temporary substrates
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B32—LAYERED PRODUCTS
  • B32B—LAYERED PRODUCTS, i.e. PRODUCTS BUILT-UP OF STRATA OF FLAT OR NON-FLAT, e.g. CELLULAR OR HONEYCOMB, FORM
  • B32B17/00—Layered products essentially comprising sheet glass, or glass, slag, or like fibres
  • B32B17/06—Layered products essentially comprising sheet glass, or glass, slag, or like fibres comprising glass as the main or only constituent of a layer, next to another layer of a specific material
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C03—GLASS; MINERAL OR SLAG WOOL
  • C03C—CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF GLASSES, GLAZES OR VITREOUS ENAMELS; SURFACE TREATMENT OF GLASS; SURFACE TREATMENT OF FIBRES OR FILAMENTS MADE FROM GLASS, MINERALS OR SLAGS; JOINING GLASS TO GLASS OR OTHER MATERIALS
  • C03C27/00—Joining pieces of glass to pieces of other inorganic material; Joining glass to glass other than by fusing
  • C03C27/06—Joining glass to glass by processes other than fusing
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H10K—ORGANIC ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES
  • H10K59/00—Integrated devices, or assemblies of multiple devices, comprising at least one organic light-emitting element covered by group H10K50/00
  • H10K59/10—OLED displays
  • H10K59/12—Active-matrix OLED [AMOLED] displays
  • H10K59/1201—Manufacture or treatment
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H10K—ORGANIC ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES
  • H10K71/00—Manufacture or treatment specially adapted for the organic devices covered by this subclass
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H10K—ORGANIC ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES
  • H10K71/00—Manufacture or treatment specially adapted for the organic devices covered by this subclass
  • H10K71/80—Manufacture or treatment specially adapted for the organic devices covered by this subclass using temporary substrates
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H10K—ORGANIC ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES
  • H10K77/00—Constructional details of devices covered by this subclass and not covered by groups H10K10/80, H10K30/80, H10K50/80 or H10K59/80
  • H10K77/10—Substrates, e.g. flexible substrates
  • H10K77/111—Flexible substrates
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B32—LAYERED PRODUCTS
  • B32B—LAYERED PRODUCTS, i.e. PRODUCTS BUILT-UP OF STRATA OF FLAT OR NON-FLAT, e.g. CELLULAR OR HONEYCOMB, FORM
  • B32B2307/00—Properties of the layers or laminate
  • B32B2307/20—Properties of the layers or laminate having particular electrical or magnetic properties, e.g. piezoelectric
  • B32B2307/206—Insulating
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B32—LAYERED PRODUCTS
  • B32B—LAYERED PRODUCTS, i.e. PRODUCTS BUILT-UP OF STRATA OF FLAT OR NON-FLAT, e.g. CELLULAR OR HONEYCOMB, FORM
  • B32B2307/00—Properties of the layers or laminate
  • B32B2307/70—Other properties
  • B32B2307/702—Amorphous
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B32—LAYERED PRODUCTS
  • B32B—LAYERED PRODUCTS, i.e. PRODUCTS BUILT-UP OF STRATA OF FLAT OR NON-FLAT, e.g. CELLULAR OR HONEYCOMB, FORM
  • B32B2457/00—Electrical equipment
  • B32B2457/20—Displays, e.g. liquid crystal displays, plasma displays
  • B32B2457/202—LCD, i.e. liquid crystal displays
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B32—LAYERED PRODUCTS
  • B32B—LAYERED PRODUCTS, i.e. PRODUCTS BUILT-UP OF STRATA OF FLAT OR NON-FLAT, e.g. CELLULAR OR HONEYCOMB, FORM
  • B32B2457/00—Electrical equipment
  • B32B2457/20—Displays, e.g. liquid crystal displays, plasma displays
  • B32B2457/206—Organic displays, e.g. OLED
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G02—OPTICS
  • G02F—OPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS
  • G02F1/00—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics
  • G02F1/01—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour 
  • G02F1/13—Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour  based on liquid crystals, e.g. single liquid crystal display cells
  • G02F1/133—Constructional arrangements; Operation of liquid crystal cells; Circuit arrangements
  • G02F1/1333—Constructional arrangements; Manufacturing methods
  • G02F1/133305—Flexible substrates, e.g. plastics, organic film
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H10D—INORGANIC ELECTRIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
  • H10D30/00—Field-effect transistors [FET]
  • H10D30/60—Insulated-gate field-effect transistors [IGFET]
  • H10D30/67—Thin-film transistors [TFT]
  • H10D30/6758—Thin-film transistors [TFT] characterised by the insulating substrates
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H10D—INORGANIC ELECTRIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
  • H10D86/00—Integrated devices formed in or on insulating or conducting substrates, e.g. formed in silicon-on-insulator [SOI] substrates or on stainless steel or glass substrates
  • H10D86/40—Integrated devices formed in or on insulating or conducting substrates, e.g. formed in silicon-on-insulator [SOI] substrates or on stainless steel or glass substrates characterised by multiple TFTs
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H10D—INORGANIC ELECTRIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
  • H10D86/00—Integrated devices formed in or on insulating or conducting substrates, e.g. formed in silicon-on-insulator [SOI] substrates or on stainless steel or glass substrates
  • H10D86/40—Integrated devices formed in or on insulating or conducting substrates, e.g. formed in silicon-on-insulator [SOI] substrates or on stainless steel or glass substrates characterised by multiple TFTs
  • H10D86/60—Integrated devices formed in or on insulating or conducting substrates, e.g. formed in silicon-on-insulator [SOI] substrates or on stainless steel or glass substrates characterised by multiple TFTs wherein the TFTs are in active matrices
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H10K—ORGANIC ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES
  • H10K2102/00—Constructional details relating to the organic devices covered by this subclass
  • H10K2102/301—Details of OLEDs
  • H10K2102/311—Flexible OLED
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H10K—ORGANIC ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES
  • H10K59/00—Integrated devices, or assemblies of multiple devices, comprising at least one organic light-emitting element covered by group H10K50/00
  • H10K59/10—OLED displays
  • H10K59/12—Active-matrix OLED [AMOLED] displays
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H10—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H10K—ORGANIC ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES
  • H10K59/00—Integrated devices, or assemblies of multiple devices, comprising at least one organic light-emitting element covered by group H10K50/00
  • H10K59/10—OLED displays
  • H10K59/17—Passive-matrix OLED displays
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
  • Y02E10/00—Energy generation through renewable energy sources
  • Y02E10/50—Photovoltaic [PV] energy
  • Y02E10/549—Organic PV cells

Definitions

• the invention relates to an electronic device, active or passive matrix screen type, comprising electronic components in thin layers on a thin support and which has good performance from the point of view flexibility and / or lightness and / or robustness.
• Active matrix displays are mostly screens
• electrophoretic screens as well as electroluminescent displays type organic light-emitting diode or OLED (Organic Light Electroluminescent Diodes) or type PLED based on polymers. All these screens use an active matrix based on Thin Film Transistors (TFT) components and other thin-film components (particularly thin film diodes) made from amorphous silicon or polycrystalline silicon on a glass plate. large area and thickness of about 0.7 mm.
• TFT Thin Film Transistors
• this technique has at least two disadvantages: (i) need to reduce the processing temperatures during the various manufacturing steps (due to the poor thermal stability of the plastic) and thus reducing the performance of the TFT, and (ii) delicate handling of the plastic substrates during manufacture (due to their lack of rigidity, ...) resulting in incompatibility with the existing manufacturing lines in the case of send supports;
• the "SUFTLA” method of Seiko-Epson comprises the following steps: (i) manufacture on a 0.7 mm glass plate of polycrystalline silicon TFT type components and (ii) transfer of the components to an intermediate support using an amorphous silicon sacrificial layer previously deposited between the TFT stack and the glass support and transfer to a final plastic support.
• Bonding on the intermediate support and then on the plastic support is carried out by a water-soluble resin, for the first, and by an adhesive for the second.
• This method requires that the first medium (on which the components are manufactured) be transparent to the wavelength of the laser used to reach the sacrificial layer and partially destroy it (in practice by heating the amorphous silicon).
• this method is expensive since it implements amorphous silicon, a laser and a double transfer; it may furthermore be difficult to assemble an LCD device with two flexible plastic films.
• laser technologies are difficult transferable to large dimensions (which is necessary for screens of significant size) and collages on polymer age badly.
• the need to fabricate the TFT components on a polymer layer affects compatibility with existing processes and processes and production lines, as well as their performance (in particular: need for a low PECVD deposition temperature, for the insulating layers and semiconductors, hence a lower quality for these layers, difficulty in obtaining a correct flatness resulting in constraints on the final device).
• the subject of the invention is a method of manufacturing an electronic device of the screen type, which can be large dimensions, comprising a plurality of thin-layer electronic components which is light and flexible, while implementing techniques already well validated and low cost, consistent with large dimensions. More particularly, it aims at a process for manufacturing passive or active matrix screens (with thin-film components - of the type
• TFT - OLED type LCD or electrophoretic, in particular
• LCD LCD or electrophoretic, in particular
• the invention proposes a method for manufacturing a thin-film electronic device of the screen type, comprising a plurality of thin-film components on a glass support, comprising steps according to which: a starting support comprising a rigid solid substrate and a glass sheet secured to this rigid solid substrate by reversible direct bonding so as to obtain a removable interface, - the plurality of thin-layer components are manufactured on this glass sheet, the sheet is separated from glass, on which the plurality of thin-layer components have been manufactured, with respect to the rigid solid substrate, by dismounting the interface.
• this sheet of glass and the plurality of thin-film components are then transferred to a final support.
• This invention thus combines the advantages of existing technologies on rigid glass support (the starting support is, at least as regards the sheet, glass), while allowing to obtain a good control of the lightness and flexibility final, by a good control of the thickness of the glass sheet, this thickness being sufficiently small to obtain the desired lightness and flexibility.
• a starting support is prepared comprising a rigid solid substrate and a glass sheet secured to this substrate; solid rigid by a reversible bonding so as to obtain a removable interface, an active matrix of pixels is produced on this glass sheet, a display layer is produced on top of this active matrix, the glass sheet, on which the active matrix and the display layer have been fabricated, is separated with respect to the rigid solid substrate, by dismounting the interface, this glass sheet and the active matrix and the display layer are transferred to a final support, possibly flexible.
• This method thus makes it possible to produce screens with flexible active matrices, while using the existing standard manufacturing methods, and to guarantee the performance of these screens.
• the advantages of TFT performance on glass technology are preserved and the flexibility provided by a control of the thickness of the glass.
• the invention notably resulted from the finding that, contrary to what the "SUFTLA” and “EPLAR” methods suggested, the use of a glass support in the final structure of an electronic device flexible screen type was possible, provided to choose for this support a sufficiently thin sheet, which was possible, in particular based on the teachings of WO-02/084722.
• the starting support is prepared by reversibly bonding the glass sheet to a rigid glass support, which gives the assembly good stability in particular.
• mechanical and thermal, reversible direct bonding is in practice a molecular bonding, whose performance can be very good
• the reversible bonding is preceded by a preparation treatment adapted to make hydrophilic surfaces to be bonded, which contributes to a very good bonding
• the surfaces to be bonded have a roughness of less than one nanometer (preferably less than 0.5 nanometer), which contributes to a very good bonding
• the starting support is prepared by gluing on the rigid solid support of a glass plate which is then optionally applied a thinning treatment bringing the thickness of the plate to a desired value, allowing and not having to manipulate the sheet separately when it has its final thickness
• the glass sheet has a thickness at most equal to 100 microns, preferably at most equal to 50 microns
• the plurality of components is manufactured in layer one-step thin
• the invention also relates to a screen-type device obtained by the aforementioned method, namely a flexible thin-film electronic device of the screen type comprising a plurality of thin-layer electronic components located on a glass support whose thickness gives it a significant flexibility, preferably at most equal to 100 microns, or even 50 microns.
• an active matrix screen comprising active matrices comprising components in thin layers on a glass sheet whose thickness gives it a significant flexibility, preferably at most equal to 100 microns, or even at most equal to 50 microns .
• the object of the invention is to protect a device of the aforementioned type in which, advantageously, the plurality of components comprises a layer formed of an active matrix of pixels and a display layer covering the active matrix of pixels.
• the flexible electronic device of the invention is advantageously an organic electroluminescent diode screen, or an electrophoretic screen or an LCD screen.
• the electronic device is such that the electronic components are designed so as to emit light through said glass sheet.
• the invention finally proposes a starting support adapted to the manufacture of a flexible thin-film electronic device of the screen type comprising a rigid solid substrate and a glass sheet secured to this rigid solid substrate by a direct reversible bonding so as to get a removable interface.
• the rigid substrate is advantageously made of glass, at least on the surface.
• FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a thin-film electronic device according to the invention
• 2 is a block diagram of a starting support
• FIG. 4 is a diagram of another subsequent step of the manufacture of the screen
• FIG. 5 is a diagram of a separation step involved in the manufacture of the screen, on the support of FIG. of the screen
• Figure 6 is a diagram showing the result of this separation step
• Figure 7 is a diagram showing the final result of the manufacture of the screen.
• the figures represent, as an example of a thin-film electronic device according to the invention, an active pixel array screen of the OLED type, and a method of manufacturing it.
• FIG. 1 thus represents a flexible active matrix OLED screen, light and robust.
• the active matrix i.e. the layer in which the components are made
• the process of the invention is compatible with temperatures well above those involved in deposit formation
• this screen comprises a final support 11, a thin layer 12 attached to this final support, here by means of an intermediate zone 13, two insulating layers 14 and 15 in which are made contacts 16, and an encapsulation layer 17 covering electroluminescent components 18A, 18B and 18C, and a protective layer 19.
• the layer 12 is a thin layer of glass, that is to say a layer of thickness at most equal to 100 microns, preferably at most equal to 50 microns, so as to that the flexibility of the assembly is defined by the flexibility of the support 11.
• An advantage of the device of Figure 1 is that it could be manufactured by implementing thin film deposition techniques on a substrate at least superficially formed of glass, without it was necessary later to separate the components vis-à-vis this glass.
• FIGS. 2 to 7 show how this screen 10 can be manufactured in accordance with the invention. This method of manufacturing a screen can be described briefly by the following steps:
• a starting substrate composed of a stack of a thin sheet of glass and a rigid sheet, advantageously also made of glass, both being temporarily secured by a reversible (molecular) direct bonding so as to form a removable interface; manufacturing, on this substrate, an active matrix of pixels, manufacturing, above the active matrix of pixels, a display layer, separation of the rigid glass support of the screen on a flexible support support if necessary.
• the base substrate is made from two glass plates 31 and 32 whose shape and size are of little importance, depending on the intended application for the final device.
• the thicknesses of these plates are chosen so as to satisfy several criteria: the overall thickness of these two plates is such that they can be handled together, typically at least on the order of 0.4 to 0.7 mm, for example for a surface of the order of 4 m 2 , the bottom plate 31 has a sufficient thickness for this plate, solid, is rigid.
• two borosilicate glass plates 100 or 200 mm in diameter, 0.7 mm thick and 0.2 nm in roughness (measured by AFM on fields of (1 x 1) ⁇ m 2 ) are used. These plates are intended to be temporarily secured.
• their roughness is advantageously at most equal to the nanometer, preferably of the order or less than 0.5 nm, which is favorable to a good molecular bonding of the faces facing these plates 31 and 32. If necessary specific layers can be deposited to obtain the required surface roughness. This roughness can be chosen to make possible the subsequent disassembly at the bonding interface.
• the bottom plate whose function is to be rigid and withstand the following component manufacturing processes, can be performed in a wide variety of materials. However, it is advantageous that it be, as indicated above, also in glass, preferably in a glass of the same properties as that of the top plate in order to avoid thermal expansion problems, for example a standard borosilicate type glass of the LCD industry.
• these plates are cleaned to remove particulate contamination, organic or metallic.
• This cleaning may be chemical type (wet or dry), thermal type, chemical mechanical polishing type or any other nature capable of effectively cleaning the facing surfaces intended to form a removable interface.
• wet chemical cleaning two cleaning compositions may be used: H 2 SO 4 , H 2 O 2 , H 2 O, or NH 4 OH, H 2 O 2 , H 2 O. are then, if necessary, rinsed with water and dried.
• the person skilled in the art knows how to adapt the cleaning method according to the particular case.
• the surfaces to be bonded are at the end of cleaning of hydrophilic nature.
• the two surfaces of the plates are brought into contact at their prepared faces to carry out the direct bonding.
• the two plates thus glued can be annealed, if necessary, to increase the bonding energy. For example, annealing at 420 ° C. is applied for 30 minutes.
• One of the two plates, here the top plate is then thinned to the desired glass thickness for the final device, by a mechanical and / or chemical technique of any known type suitable. This step is optional if the plate considered immediately has the required thickness.
• one of the substrates is thinned to 100 ⁇ m or alternatively to 75 ⁇ m or to 64 ⁇ m.
• the thickness of the thinned plate, here the upper plate 32, is such that, given the properties of the glass used, this plate has a flexibility compatible with the intended application for the finished product; this thickness is in practice at most equal to 100 microns and preferably at most equal to 50 microns; it is therefore correct to define the thinned upper plate 32 as being a thin sheet of glass.
• the lower plate 31 is a rigid solid plate. The stack presented in FIG. 2 is then obtained, where the surface areas of the two plates affected by gluing, labeled 31A and 32A, together form a bonding interface 33.
• this interface is removable, that is to say reversible. It is within the abilities of those skilled in the art to draw on the teachings of the aforementioned document WO-02/084722 to control the bonding energy of this interface.
• the bonding energy is very low, of the order of 350 mJ / m 2 .
• the bonding energy is controlled by acting beforehand on the microroughness of the faces to be assembled.
• One layer of an oxide or of several oxides for example SiO 2 , whose microroughness is adjusted, is deposited on one of the glass layers before bonding.
• a specific chemical treatment for example by etching with hydrofluoric acid HF.
• the oxide used is SiO 2
• the person skilled in the art will also be able to choose to apply a heat treatment or not to give the SiO 2 layer the properties of thermal silica (see for example the article The bonding energy Semiconductor Wafer Bonding: Science, Technology and Applications VII, Bengtsson ed, The Electrochemical Society 2003, 49, presented at the Electrochemical Society Conference in Paris, May 2003).
• the bonding energy is controlled by acting on the micro-roughness of the faces to be assembled, then by performing a cleaning as described above.
• the base substrate 31-32 is then used as a standard glass plate for the manufacture of an active matrix with thin-film components, here of TFT type. It is understood that the presence of the removable interface does not substantially modify the mechanical properties of the stack, compared to a monobloc plate of the same thickness. Alternatively, it is of course possible to use for the bottom plate a material different from the glass but whose stack with the upper plate is capable of undergoing the same mechanical and thermal treatments as the stack 31-32: the skilled person can evaluate the characteristics required for such a stack (in particular the nature and the thicknesses of the materials to be retained as well as the associated thermal limitations).
• FIG. 3 represents a plate of active matrices after the realization of a network of TFT components corresponding to amorphous silicon pixels, in the so-called grid technology below.
• the components may alternatively be the basis of other materials including polycrystalline silicon.
• the conditions of realization can be exactly the same as for a manufacture on conventional glass substrate; in particular, the maximum temperature used can be the same (in general, 300 ° C., for depositing the layers by the technique known as PECVD). This is made possible by the very nature (of the glass) of the layers of the base substrate and by the ability of the reversible bonding to hold these temperatures. In addition, as indicated, the total thickness of the base substrate is very close to that of a glass plate conventionally used in this type of treatment, 0.7 mm.
• this network of thin-film components comprises:
• An insulating layer of gate 42 typically made of silicon nitride SiNx, Zones of amorphous silicon 44 deposited on the insulating layer (intrinsic and doped layer stack),
• the electrodes will be more like molybdenum or aluminum or any other conductive material allowing the injection of holes or electrons into the OLED.
• Transverse strands such as those identified 47 (these transverse strands are not all shown in the figures, for reasons of readability thereof), are provided in the insulating layers so as to establish the appropriate connections.
• the next step is to make a display layer on this active matrix of TFT components.
• FIG. 4 shows the step of adding, on the pixel electrodes, localized layers comprising appropriate organic electroluminescent materials, in practice of Red (48A), Green (48B) and Blue (48C) color, so as to realize an OLED color screen.
• These localized layers may be, optionally, small molecule organic layers (which results in “OLED” type components) or polymer layers (which results in "PLED” type components). They can be deposited by evaporation, or by ink jet, or by spin coating type.
• OLED organic electroluminescent materials
• a conductive layer forming a second electrode or against electrode, more precisely a cathode 49, which is here a continuous plane above the localized layers.
• This cathode cooperates with the electrodes 46 to form electroluminescent components emitting, depending on the material thus sandwiched, green, red or blue light.
• OLED components are covered with an encapsulation layer 50 which may be SiNx.
• the emission of light is towards the bottom of the screen ("Bottom emission"), which was not possible with the SUFTLA or EPLAR methods. It is nevertheless possible, with an adaptation of the materials, to operate in emission upwards.
• the screen formed by the superposition of the TFT components and OLED components is then covered by one or more plastic layers 51 which has a role of protection as well as handle for the subsequent handling of the structure.
• This layer is for example deposited by rolling (that is to say by unwinding this layer and pressing on the deposition surface).
• the manufacture of the screen further comprises a step of connecting the drivers ("drivers") on the screen; this can be done at this stage.
• the product obtained at the end of this step comprises the screen to be produced as well as the solid rigid glass layer which facilitated the handling of the assembly during the various manufacturing steps.
• the separation step consists in separating the screen and the thin layer of thin glass from the rigid layer of thick glass.
• the separation is at the location of the direct bonding area. It is advantageously carried out by the insertion of a blade at the locations indicated by arrows in FIG. 5. If the plastic encapsulation layer 50 is strong enough not to break during the separation, it is not useful to use, by gluing from above, a support handle as in the processes explained in the state of the art.
• Figure 6 shows the result of this separation, where the original plates were glued.
• plates are thus separated, one of which is thinned to 75 ⁇ m or to 64 ⁇ m, without breaking the plate.
• the screen is dissociated from the glass substrate which has allowed manipulation during the manufacturing steps. It is then possible to implant this screen at its service location.
• a support 60 of any suitable material given the application in question, for example a plastic support (see Figure 7); this support is for example polymer such as PET.
• this support 60 will be laminated on the screen. It may be noted by comparison of Figures 1 and 7 that the product obtained is in accordance with the desired product. Zone 13, which is the surface area 32A of the plate 32 (see point 1 and FIG. 2), is recognized and which zone of this plate 32 is affected by the reversible bonding.
• Fixing the screen, so its thin layer of glass, can be done by gluing.
• a support that is flexible, because of its nature and / or its thickness (for example with a rather small thickness in the range of 20 to 50 microns) then a flexible screen is obtained.
• the support may be more rigid, for example by choosing larger thicknesses between 200 and 700 microns; the screen is not particularly flexible, but it has the advantage of being light and robust compared to an identical screen made on a solid glass support, without separation.
• the thin product obtained by the process of the invention may alternatively, depending on the requirements, be in particular carried on materials such as a thin metal, for example a stainless steel with a thickness advantageously of between 50.degree. at 200 microns, which allows to maintain the qualities of flexibility, and to improve the solidity and the thermal stability of the whole.
• a thin metal for example a stainless steel with a thickness advantageously of between 50.degree. at 200 microns, which allows to maintain the qualities of flexibility, and to improve the solidity and the thermal stability of the whole.
• the removable interface can be made not directly between the exposed faces of two glass plates, but also indirectly, between the bonding layers deposited on these faces to be secured.
• the invention provides various advantages, in particular: when the thin sheet of glass is attached to a rigid plate of glass, the support thus produced is completely compatible with known TFT processes, hence a very moderate cost and transistors made at standard temperatures and therefore good qualities, the fact of ensuring the separation at the level of a removable interface allows an excellent control of the thickness of the residual thin layer, in particular to guarantee, if necessary, a determined level of flexibility, which makes it possible to control the performances obtained.
• the method of the invention is substantially cheaper than the methods known under the designations of "SUFTLA” and "EPLAR", yet designed for similar applications, due to the fact that it is not necessary to provide equipment laser, a downward emission, or “bottom emission” (see Figures 1 to 7 and the description above), is possible for OLED screens, or for other rans, the method of the invention can be implemented without limitation as regards the dimensions of the device to achieve; it is thus possible to provide devices of several centimeters, or even several tens of centimeters in width and length.

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• 2005
  • 2005-11-22 FR FR0511798A patent/FR2893750B1/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 2006
  • 2006-11-20 US US12/094,521 patent/US20090262294A9/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2006-11-20 JP JP2008541786A patent/JP2009516863A/ja not_active Withdrawn
  • 2006-11-20 WO PCT/FR2006/002543 patent/WO2007060314A1/fr not_active Ceased
  • 2006-11-20 EP EP06831137A patent/EP1952441A1/de not_active Withdrawn

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