SBIR Phase II: Laser-Enabled Massively Parallel Die Transfer for microLED Displays

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to enable a new display technology that, among other benefits, reduces the power consumption associated with public displays, TVs, mobile devices, wearables. MicroLED display technology has the potential to reduce display power consumption by 90% relative to today's displays, representing a large opportunity to impact the world's power consumption profile. The proposed project will advance the Laser Enabled Advanced Placement (LEAP) technology to a level where microLED displays can be produced efficiently, reliably, and in volume. MicroLED displays are widely considered to be the next generation of display technology, but the lack of methods for placing the millions of required microLEDs per display is one of the major obstacles to their commercialization. LEAP solves this problem by rapidly scanning a laser beam diffracted into multiple beamlets across the source wafer to transfer microLED arrays in rapid succession, achieving placement rates orders of magnitude higher than current methods. The tasks in this project include the development and optimization of the entire LEAP process, including the development of critical-to-the-process materials, preparation of microLEDs for transfer, laser placement of microLEDs, and microLED interconnection on the device substrate. The goal is to demonstrate a placement rate in excess of 100 M units per hour with a placement precision of 99.5%. The project will conclude with a demonstration of a microLED display assembled with the newly developed processes. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.