Enabling new industries with high volume manufacturing: learnings from R2R processing in wearable and flexible displays Tobias Stolley, Technologist Applied Materials WEB Coating GmbH Industiral Technologies Amsterdam, Germany 22 th June, 2016
Outline Short introduction to Applied Materials Corporate profile Enabling & accelerating innovation Applications & megatrends Wearable devices Key R2R processing technologies for the wearable sector R2R CVD, PVD & etch Patterning technologies R2R barrier & thin film transistor processing Barrier layers & stacks for integration in mobile & wearable displays Flexible TFT backplanes processing for active matrix microfluidic sensor arrays & low pixel density reflective displays Summary Desired areas of future collaboration 2
The Most Exciting Industries on Earth Applied Materials is a leading equipment supplier to the semiconductor, display, solar and related industries OUR STRENGTHS Materials engineering Customer engagement Providing differentiated device performance and yield solutions 3
The Global Strength of Applied Stock Ticker: Fiscal 2015 Revenue: Fiscal 2015 RD&E: AMAT 8.8 billion 1.4 billion Founded: November 10, 1967 Global Presence: Employees * : Patents: 81 locations of which 20 in EMEA ~14,600 worldwide ~2,200 in EMEA ~10,200 issued Data as of fiscal year end, October 25, 2015 *Excluding temporary and interns 4
Applied Material s R&D activities in EMEA Micro-nano electronics Cork, IE Micro-nano electronics Leuven, BE Display Roll to roll technologies Emerging products Alzenau, DE Fab automation software Reading, UK Display Inspection and metrology Feldkirchen, Heimstetten, DE Micro-nano electronics Grenoble, FR Solar photovoltaic Treviso, IT Inspection and metrology Rehovot, IL 9 R&D LOCATIONS ACROSS EMEA 5
The Roll to Roll Business Unit Based in Alzenau, Germany & focused on high rate vacuum deposition of thin films on polymeric substrates for food packaging, security & flexible electronic & display based applications 6
The Wearable Era Has Come! Apple Watch release changing public perception of wearable electronics Potential to be the first killer applications for flexible display Customer pull rather than technology push! Flexible display key component in most devices High end products using AMOLED frontplane Considerable market potential for EPD enabled devices Apple Watch Phosphor E-Ink Worldtime 7
New Wearable Sensor Products for Healthcare Increasing number of wearable sensors on the market Shock sensors for determination of impact/blast damage Real time electrocardiograms (EEG) & heart rate monitoring UV dose/exposure monitoring Kind Permission: J. Rogers, MC10 8
Epidermal Electronics:- The Ultimate Form Factor Application? Epidermal electronics provide best match between exploitation of form factor and need for low cost processing Metallic strain gauge serpentine structures for EEG/ECG applications Thermal sensors for blood flow measurement based on resistors Blood oximeters based on OLED light sources & organic photodiodes Sweat analytics for body condition monitoring using microfluidics Kind Permission: J. Rogers, MC10 9
Roll to Roll Opportunities Form factors driving new applications: shape, size, weight, unbreakability Substrates often initially in roll form & ideal for low cost processing R2R New applications driving innovation in manufacturing and materials: Inline processing for increased productivity & reduced materials costs Compatibility with low cost imprint lithography patterning technologies Lower new invest & materials cost than S2S with photolithography (< 50% if yield assumption identical) Industry now ready to invest in new technologies for new form factor products to increase differentiation in the marketplace Critical challenges in roll-to-roll manufacturing: cost, performance, yield New platforms required to meet targets Current toolsets immature-further technology development required 10
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R2R Vacuum Processing Equipment Front Surface Contact Free Web support from back eliminates contact-based defects Winding Versatility Low-friction roller bearings and optimized load cell positions for precise web tension Dual-bearing roller architecture to ensure roller-to-roller parallelism Supports a broad variety of substrate types and thicknesses Usable coating width 1.5 m R2R Vacuum Deposition Equipment Process Zones 12
Transmission / color ratio High Density Plasma Source for PECVD Linear plasma source High-density plasma with low thermal budget High-quality film deposition Wide impedance range stability demonstrated CFD design to avoid powder buildup Laminar gas flow Uniform pressure distribution No dead or recirculation zones Plasma characteristics Plasma density > 1 x 10 10 cm -3 Ion energy < 30 ev Electron temperature < 3 ev 1,4 1,2 1 0,8 0,6 0,4 0,2 0 Plasma Uniformity 0 400 800 1200 1600 Web Width (mm) Full web width plasma uniformity ~± 2.5% 13
Rotary Cathode Technology for R2R Processing Continuous target rotation ensures clean target surface Minimized particle buildup and emission Dramatically reduced ITO & IGZO nodule density &/or target crack density Maximized process stability and target utilization (> 80 %) Reduction of heat load to substrate during deposition with rotatable Lower target surface temperature with rotatable Less risk of film overheating Higher line speed on heat sensitive, thinner gauge substrates 14
Roll to Roll Etch Equipment R2R dry etch tools required for selective etching of silicon based semiconductor layers & dielectrics Utilizes fluorine based chemistry Vision system required for inline microscopy & etch endpoint detection Commercial wet etchers available for source/gate/drain metal etching Requirement for selective process chemistry for etching different metals Multiple rinse step capability 200 o C Anneal Tunnel Dryer HEPA Filtered Enclosure Rated Class 100 or Better 15
Imprint Lithography:- Paradigm Shift in R2R Patterning Source : HP, 2009 Single mask, single imprint process with perfect source, gate & drain alignment!
Basic Imprint Lithography Process ~40nm lines on 50μ polyimide 1μm 3 2 1 0 Multilevel structures on flex at 5m/min 20 m 4 levels in 0.5 μ step heights
Multilayer Barrier Stacks Low temperature inorganic layer to inhibit H 2 O and O 2 permeation Defects in each inorganic layer impact permeation Low temperature process to avoid active organic layer degradation Multilayers critical to achieve high barrier for QD and OLED devices Redundancy and increase in effective diffusion path Planarization or burying of particles, defects by organic or quasi-organic layers Ref: Flexible Flat Panel Displays, Ed. G.P. Crawford (2005). Ref:- Robert Visser MIT/Stanford Nanoforum, April 2005 18
Multilayer Stack Barrier Performance Defect averaged barrier performance measured using Aquatran 2 permeation unit at 40 o C/100% RH conditions WVTR < 5 x 10-4 /m 2 day for full CVD 3 layer stack on PET WVTR > 10-5 /m 2 day for full CVD 3 layer stack on PEN 19
R2R TFT Device Performance Performance levels sufficient for sensor, EPD & electrowetting display applications High field effect mobility ~ 0.95 cm 2 /Vs for asi, ~ 10 cm 2 /Vs for IGZO High on/off current ratios ~ 10 8 for both asi and IGZO transistors Low threshold voltage ~ -2.5 V for asi & ~ 0.5 V for IGZO High threshold voltage drift stability < 0.4 V after 2000 s for asi 20
Summary:- R2R Processed Flexible Electronics The IoT & wearable era has arrived! Explosion in products announced on the market since 2014 Products incorporating display, communication and sense capabilities leading consumer adoption Pebble & Apple Watch paving the way for broader range of wearable fashion lead devices Display based applications show largest growth potential for vacuum processing of flexible substrates for electronics Applied s R2R tools already in high volume manufacturing for transparent materials in Touch Panel & for barrier Pilot line demonstration of R2R manufacture of complex device architectures including flexible TFT backplanes Applied Materials currently leveraging its technology portfolio & strategic partnership base to look for new high growth applications in R2R processing European research network provides new platform for open innovation in the tech sector Applied Materials using open innovation model to develop products that drive to lowest cost/m 2 manufacturing at highest performance through equipment design, scaling, metrology and yield strategies 21
Desired Areas of Future Collaboration Applications requiring R2R nanometer & micron level patterning for optical, decorative, electronic & automotive devices Pilot level R2R manufacturing of optical & electronic devices for wearable & IoT applications Printed & hybrid printed & vacuum processed electronics Hybrid manufacturing for IoT & medical sensors Hardcoats on roll processable substrates Inclusive optically matched hardcoats with AR functionality For further information please contact me @ Tobias_Stolley@amat.com R2R metrology for defect detection, end point detection etc. Decorative vacuum processed &/or patterned coatings 22