Deformable electronic device and methods of providing and using deformable electronic device
Some embodiments include a method of providing an electronic device. The method includes: (i) providing a carrier substrate, (ii) providing a device substrate comprising a first side and a second side opposite the first side, the device substrate having a flexible substrate, (iii) coupling the first side of the device substrate to the carrier substrate; and (iv) after coupling the first side of the device substrate to the carrier substrate, providing two or more active sections over the second side of the device substrate, each active section of the two or more active sections being spatially separate from each other and having at least one semiconductor device. Other embodiments of related methods and devices are also disclosed.
1. A method of providing an electronic device, the method comprising:
providing a carrier substrate;
providing a device substrate comprising a first side and a second side opposite the first side, the device substrate comprising a flexible substrate;
coupling the first side of the device substrate to the carrier substrate;
after coupling the first side of the device substrate to the carrier substrate, providing two or more device island sections over the second side of the device substrate, each device island section of the two or more device island sections being spatially separate from each other and comprising at least one semiconductor device; and
providing one or more wavy metal interconnects over the second side of the device substrate to electrically couple together the two or more device island sections, the one or more wavy metal interconnects being configured to be at least one of reversibly expanded or reversibly contracted.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein:
providing the two or more device island sections over the second side of the device substrate comprises:
after coupling the first side of the device substrate to the carrier substrate, providing one or more semiconductor device layers over the second side of the device substrate, the one or more semiconductor device layers comprising a first portion and a second portion; and
removing part or all of the first portion of the one or more semiconductor device layers from over the second side of the device substrate and leaving the second potion of the one or more semiconductor device layers remaining over the second side of the device substrate such that the two or more device island sections comprise the second portion of the one or more semiconductor device layers.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein:
removing part or all of the first portion of the one or more semiconductor device layers from over the second side of the device substrate and leaving the second portion of the one or more semiconductor device layers remaining over the second side of the device substrate comprises:
etching the part or the all of the first portion of the one or more semiconductor device layers from over the second side of the device substrate.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein at least one of:
a volumetric ratio of the first portion of the one or more semiconductor device layers to the second portion of the one or more semiconductor device layers is less than or equal to approximately 0.9; or
the volumetric ratio of the first portion of the one or more semiconductor device layers to the second portion of the one or more semiconductor device layers is greater than or equal to approximately 0.1.
5. The method of claim 2 wherein:
providing the one or more semiconductor device layers over the second side of the device substrate comprises:
providing a first passivation layer over the second side of the device substrate, the first passivation layer comprising silicon nitride;
providing a gate layer over the first passivation layer, the gate layer comprising a conductive material;
providing a first dielectric layer over the gate layer, the first dielectric layer comprising silicon nitride;
providing one or more active layers over the first dielectric layer;
providing a second dielectric layer over the one or more active layers, the second dielectric layer comprising silicon nitride;
providing a second passivation layer over at least one of the one or more active layers or the gate layer, the second passivation layer comprising silicon nitride;
providing one or more contact layers over the at least one of the one or more active layers or the gate layer; and
providing one or more device layers over at least one of the one or more contact layers or the second passivation layer.
6. The method of claim 5 further comprising:
forming one or more interconnect vias over the one or more contact layers;
wherein:
the forming the one or more interconnect vias over the one or more contact layers occurs approximately simultaneously with the removing the part or the all of the first portion of the one or more semiconductor device layers from over the second side of the device substrate and leaving the second portion of the one or more semiconductor device layers remaining over the second side of the device substrate such that the two or more device island sections comprise the second portion of the one or more semiconductor device layers.
7. The method of claim 2 wherein at least one of:
the carrier substrate comprises a rigid substrate, the carrier substrate comprising at least one of alumina, silicon, glass, stainless steel, or sapphire;
the carrier substrate is CTE matched to the device substrate;
the device substrate comprises at least one of polyethylene naphthalate, polyethylene terephthalate, polyethersulfone, polyimide, polycarbonate, cyclic olefin copolymer, or liquid crystal polymer;
the device substrate comprises an elastic modulus of less than approximately five GigaPascals;
or
the device substrate comprises a thickness of greater than or equal to approximately 1 micrometer and less than or equal to approximately 1 millimeter.
8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
after providing the two or more device island sections over the second side of the device substrate, decoupling the device substrate and the two or more device island sections from the carrier substrate.
9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:
after providing the two or more device island sections over the second side of the device substrate and before decoupling the device substrate and the two or more device island sections from the carrier substrate, providing a sacrificial layer over the second side of the device substrate and the two or more device island sections; and
after decoupling the device substrate and the two or more device island sections from the carrier substrate, providing an elastomeric layer over the first side of the device substrate.
10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
after providing the two or more device island sections over the second side of the device substrate, providing a sacrificial layer over the second side of the device substrate and the two or more device island sections; and
after providing the two or more device island sections over the second side of the device substrate, decoupling the device substrate and the two or more device island sections from the carrier substrate.
11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
after providing the two or more device island sections over the second side of the device substrate, providing an elastomeric layer over the second side of the device substrate and the two or more device island sections; and
after providing the elastomeric layer over the second side of the device substrate and the two or more device island sections, providing a sacrificial layer over the elastomeric layer.
12. The method of claim 1 wherein:
providing the two or more device island sections over the second side of the device substrate comprises:
after coupling the first side of the device substrate to the carrier substrate, providing one or more semiconductor device layers over the second side of the device substrate, the one or more semiconductor device layers comprising a first portion and a second portion; and
removing part or all of the first portion of the one or more semiconductor device layers from over the second side of the device substrate and leaving the second potion of the one or more semiconductor device layers remaining over the second side of the device substrate such that the two or more device island sections comprise the second portion of the one or more semiconductor device layers;
removing part or all of the first portion of the one or more semiconductor device layers from over the second side of the device substrate and leaving the second portion of the one or more semiconductor device layers remaining over the second side of the device substrate comprises:
etching the part or the all of the first portion of the one or more semiconductor device layers from over the second side of the device substrate;
the device substrate comprises polyimide; and
the method further comprises:
providing one or more wavy metal interconnects over the second side of the device substrate to electrically couple together the two or more device island sections.
13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:
after providing the two or more device island sections over the second side of the device substrate, decoupling the device substrate and the two or more device island sections from the carrier substrate.