Granted Patent B2

US 9,608,017 · App. 14/635,865 · Granted Mar 28, 2017

Inventors: Chan-Long Shieh (Paradise Valley, AZ); Fatt Foong (Goleta, CA); Gang Yu (Santa Barbara, CA); Guangming Wang (Santa Barbara, CA)

Assignee: CBRITE INC.

H01L27/1266H01L27/1222H01L27/1225H01L29/7869H01L29/78669H01L29/78678H01L51/0545H01L51/56H01L2227/323H01L2227/326

Abstract

Claims (60)

1. A process of fabricating a flexible TFT back-panel on a glass support comprising the steps of:

providing a flat glass support member having an upper surface;

depositing a layer of etch stop material on the upper surface of the glass support member;

depositing a display/photoimager/chem/bio-sensor pixel element contact pad overlying the layer of etch stop material;

depositing gate metal overlying the etch stop material and patterning the gate metal to define a gate electrode of a TFT and connecting lines;

depositing a layer of gate dielectric material overlying the contact pad and the gate metal, and forming a via through the layer of gate dielectric material in communication with the contact pad;

depositing and patterning semiconductor material to form an active layer of the TFT overlying the gate electrode;

depositing source/drain contact metal on the active layer and in the via in electrical contact with the contact pad and patterning the source/drain contact metal to define source and drain terminals of the TFT;

depositing a layer of passivation material in overlying relationship to the TFT;

forming a color filter on the layer of passivation material;

affixing a flexible plastic carrier to the color filter; and

etching the glass support member away and etching the layer of etch stop material away to expose a surface of the display/photoimager/chem/bio-sensor pixel element contact pad.

2. A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the active layer is one of a metal-oxide semiconductor, an amorphous or polycrystalline silicon film, and an organic semiconductor.

3. A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the display/photoimager/chem/bio-sensor pixel element contact pad is designed to connect to one of an LCD, an OLED, a chemical sensor and a biosensor.

4. A process as claimed in claim 1 further including a step of depositing a buffer layer on the layer of etch stop material prior to the step of depositing the display/photoimager/chem/bio-sensor pixel element contact pad.

5. A process as claimed in claim 4 wherein the buffer layer is selected to protect the display/photoimager/chem/bio-sensor pixel element contact pad during the step of etching the layer of etch stop material away to expose a surface of the display/photoimager/chem/bio-sensor pixel element contact pad.

6. A process as claimed in claim 1 further including the step of depositing a planarization layer over the display/photoimager/chem/bio-sensor pixel element contact pad and the step of depositing the gate metal includes depositing the gate metal on the planarization layer.

7. A process as claimed in claim 6 further including a step of forming a via through the planarization layer in alignment with the via through the layer of gate dielectric material.

8. A process as claimed in claim 1 further including a step of reversing the structure to position the display/photoimager/chem/bio-sensor pixel element contact pad at an upper surface and forming a display/photoimager/chem/bio-sensor pixel element on the upper surface in electrical contact with the contact pad.

9. A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the step of depositing the layer of etch stop material includes depositing one of Au, Pt, and Pd.

10. A process as claimed in claim 9 wherein the layer of etch stop material is less than 200 nm thick.

11. A process of fabricating a flexible TFT back-panel on a glass support comprising the steps of:

providing a flat glass support member having an upper surface;

depositing a layer of etch stop material on the upper surface of the glass support member;

depositing a buffer layer on the layer of etch stop material;

depositing a matrix of display/photoimager/chem/bio-sensor pixel element contact pads overlying the layer of etch stop material;

depositing a planarization layer on the matrix of display/photoimager/chem/bio-sensor pixel element contact pads and surrounding buffer layer;

depositing gate metal on the planarization layer and patterning the gate metal to define a matrix of TFT gate electrodes and connecting lines for a matrix of TFTs;

depositing a layer of gate dielectric material on the matrix of TFT gate electrodes and connecting lines, and forming a via through the layer of gate dielectric material and planarization layer in communication with the contact pad for each TFT in the matrix of TFT gate electrodes;

depositing and patterning semiconductor material to form an active layer overlying the gate electrode for each TFT in the matrix of TFTs;

depositing source/drain contact metal on the active layer and in the via in electrical contact with the contact pad for each TFT in the matrix of TFTs, and patterning the source/drain contact metal to define source and drain terminals for each TFT in the matrix of TFTs;

depositing a layer of passivation material in overlying relationship to the matrix of TFTs;

forming a color filter on the layer of passivation material;

affixing a flexible plastic carrier to the color filter;

etching the glass support member away;

etching the layer of etch stop material away;

etching the buffer layer away to expose a surface of each display/photoimager/chem/bio-sensor pixel element contact pad of the matrix of display/photoimager/chem/bio-sensor pixel element contact pads, whereby a flexible TFT back-panel is provided.

12. A process as claimed in claim 11 wherein the active layer is a metal-oxide semiconductor film, an amorphous or polycrystalline silicon film, an organic semiconductor film.

13. A process as claimed in claim 11 wherein the matrix of display/photoimager/chem/bio-sensor pixel element contact pads is designed to connect one each to one of an LCD, an OLED, a chemical sensor and a biosensor.

14. A process as claimed in claim 11 wherein the buffer layer is selected to protect the display/photoimager/chem/bio-sensor pixel element contact pads during the step of etching the layer of etch stop material away to expose a surface of the display/photoimager/chem/bio-sensor pixel element contact pads.

15. A process as claimed in claim 11 further including a step of reversing the structure to position the display/photoimager/chem/bio-sensor pixel element contact pads at an upper surface and forming a matrix of display/photoimager/chem/bio-sensor pixel elements on the upper surface in electrical contact, one each in contact with one each of the matrix of contact pads.

16. A process as claimed in claim 11 wherein the step of depositing the layer of etch stop material includes depositing one of Au, Pt, and Pd.

17. A process as claimed in claim 16 wherein the layer of etch stop material is less than 200 nm thick.

18. A process of fabricating a flexible TFT back-panel on a glass support comprising the steps of:

providing a flat glass support member having an upper surface;

depositing a layer of etch stop material on the upper surface of the glass support member;

depositing a buffer layer on the layer of etch stop material;

depositing a matrix of OLED contact pads overlying the layer of etch stop material;

depositing a planarization layer on the matrix of OLED contact pads and surrounding buffer layer;

depositing gate metal on the planarization layer and patterning the gate metal to define a matrix of TFT gate electrodes and connecting lines for a matrix of TFTs;

depositing a layer of gate dielectric material on the matrix of TFT gate electrodes and connecting lines, and forming a via through the layer of gate dielectric material and planarization layer in communication with the contact pad for each TFT in the matrix of TFT gate electrodes;

depositing and patterning metal oxide semiconductor material to form an active layer overlying the gate electrode for each TFT in the matrix of TFTs;

depositing source/drain contact metal on the active layer and in the via in electrical contact with the contact pad for each TFT in the matrix of TFTs, and patterning the source/drain contact metal to define source and drain terminals for each TFT in the matrix of TFTs;

depositing a layer of passivation material in overlying relationship to the matrix of TFTs;

affixing a flexible plastic carrier to the layer of passivation material;

etching the glass support member away;

etching the layer of etch stop material away;

etching the buffer layer away to expose a surface of each of the OLED contact pads;

reversing the structure to position the matrix of OLED contact pads at an upper surface; and

forming a full color matrix of OLEDs on the upper surface in electrical, one each in contact with a contact pad of the matrix of contact pads.

Assignments (9)

Continuity (1)