METHOD OF FORMING AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE ON A SUBSTRATE SUPPORTED BY A CARRIER AND RESULTANT DEVICE
A method for forming an electronic device on a flexible substrate conditions the surface of a carrier to form a holding area for retaining the flexible substrate. A contact surface of the flexible substrate is applied against the carrier with an intermediate binding material applied between at least the holding area of the carrier and the corresponding area of the contact surface. Entrapped gas between the flexible substrate and the carrier is removed and the substrate processed to form the electronic device thereon. The substrate can then be removed from the holding area to yield the resultant electronic device.
1 . A method for forming an electronic device on a flexible substrate comprising:
conditioning the surface of a carrier to form a holding area for retaining a flexible substrate;
applying a contact surface of the flexible substrate against the carrier with an intermediate binding material applied between at least the holding area of the carrier and the corresponding area of the contact surface;
removing entrapped gas between the flexible substrate and the carrier;
processing the substrate to form the electronic device thereon; and
removing the flexible substrate from the holding area.
2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the intermediate binding material is a reflowable plastic binder material.
3 . The method of claim 2 wherein the plastic binder material is coated onto the contact surface of the substrate.
4 . The method of claim 2 wherein the reflowable plastic binder is taken from the group consisting of heat-stabilized polyethylene terephthalate (HS-PET), polyethylenenapthalate (PEN), polycarbonate (PC), polyarylate (PAR), polyetherimide (PEI), polyethersulphone (PES), polyimide (PI), Teflon poly(perfluoro-alboxy)fluoropolymer (PFA), Kapton, poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK), poly(ether ketone) (PEK), poly(ethylene tetrafluoroethylene)fluoropolymer (PETFE), poly(methyl methacrylate), acrylate/methacrylate copolymers (PMMA), cyclic polyolefins, ethylene-chlorotrifluoro ethylene (E-CTFE), ethylene-tetra-fluoroethylene (E-TFE), poly-tetrafluoro-ethylene (PTFE), fiber glass enhanced plastic (FEP), and high density polyethylene (HDPE).
5 . The method of claim 1 wherein applying comprises laminating a portion of the contact surface of the flexible substrate to the holding area.
6 . The method of claim 5 wherein laminating comprises irradiating the substrate and carrier to fix the intermediate binding material.
7 . The method of claim 6 further comprising irradiating the substrate and carrier for removing the substrate.
8 . The method of claim 1 wherein the carrier absorbs radiation over a band of wavelengths and the substrate is substantially transparent to said band of wavelengths.
9 . The method of claim 1 wherein the flexible substrate is metal.
10 . The method of claim 1 wherein the intermediate binding material is an epoxy.
11 . The method of claim 1 wherein the respective coefficient of thermal expansion values of the carrier and the flexible substrate differ from each other by more than 2 ppm/degree C.
12 . The method of claim 1 wherein conditioning the surface comprises sandblasting.
13 . The method of claim 1 wherein conditioning the surface comprises corrosive etching.
14 . The method of claim 1 wherein conditioning the surface comprises depositing a material on the surface.
15 . A method for forming an electronic device on a flexible substrate comprising:
conditioning an area on the surface of a carrier as a holding area for adhesion to a flexible substrate;
coating at least a portion of a contact surface of the flexible substrate with a reflowable plastic binder material;
applying the contact surface of the flexible substrate against the carrier and removing entrapped gas between the flexible substrate and the carrier;
attaching at least the coated portion of the contact surface of the flexible substrate to the holding area;
processing the substrate to form the electronic device thereon; and
detaching the substrate material from the holding area.
16 . The method of claim 15 wherein attaching is done by laminating and detaching is done by delaminating.
17 . The method of claim 15 wherein the reflowable plastic binder material is poly-tetrafluoro-ethylene (PTFE).
18 . The method of claim 15 wherein the reflowable plastic binder material is retained on the contact surface of the flexible substrate when the substrate is removed from the carrier.
19 . The method of claim 15 further comprising the step of removing the reflowable plastic binder material from the contact surface of the flexible substrate.
20 . The method of claim 15 wherein conditioning the area of the carrier comprises sandblasting a portion of the carrier surface.
21 . The method of claim 15 wherein conditioning the area of the carrier comprises etching a portion of the carrier surface.
22 . An electronic device formed in accordance with the method of claim 1 .
23 . An electronic device formed in accordance with the method of claim 15 .
24 . A method for forming an electronic device on a flexible substrate comprising:
providing a flexible substrate;
providing a carrier;
conditioning a contact surface of the substrate to form a holding area for contacting the carrier;
applying the contact surface of the flexible substrate against the carrier with an intermediate binding material applied between at least the holding area of the substrate and the corresponding area of the carrier;
removing entrapped gas between the flexible substrate and the carrier;
processing the substrate to form the electronic device thereon; and
removing the flexible substrate from the holding area.
25 . An electronic device formed in accordance with the method of claim 24 .