Title :
Surface-free technology by laser annealing (SUFTLA) and its application to poly-Si TFT-LCDs on plastic film with integrated drivers
Author :
Inoue, Satoshi ; Utsunomiya, Sumio ; Saeki, Takayuki ; Shimoda, Tatsuya
Author_Institution :
Technol. Platform Res. Center, Seiko Epson Corp., Nagano, Japan
fDate :
8/1/2002 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
In order to realize electronic devices on plastic film, new technology has been developed that enables the transfer of thin-film devices from an original substrate to another substrate by using laser irradiation. This technology was termed SUFTLA, which stands for surface-free technology by laser annealing. A polycrystalline-silicon thin film transistor (poly-Si TFT) back-plane for liquid crystal displays (LCDs) with integrated drivers was fabricated using a low-temperature process (below 425°C) and could be successfully transferred from a glass or quartz substrate to plastic film using this technology. This technology enabled us to fabricate an all-plastic substrate TFT-LCD having a display area of 0.7 in measured diagonally and a pixel count of 428×238. In addition, the operation of the integrated drivers and the displayed image could be confirmed for the first time in the world.
Keywords :
CMOS integrated circuits; driver circuits; integrated circuit technology; laser beam annealing; liquid crystal displays; plastics; silicon; substrates; thin film transistors; 0.7 in; 101864 pixel; 238 pixel; 425 C; 428 pixel; CMOS poly-Si TFTs; LCD assembly process; SUFTLA; Si; all-plastic substrate TFT-LCD; glass substrate; integrated drivers; laser annealing; laser irradiation; liquid crystal displays; low-temperature process; plastic film substrate; poly-Si TFT-LCDs; polycrystalline Si TFT; polysilicon TFT backplane; quartz substrate; surface-free technology; thin film transistor; thin-film device transfer; Annealing; Area measurement; Driver circuits; Glass; Liquid crystal displays; Plastic films; Substrates; Surface emitting lasers; Thin film devices; Thin film transistors;
Journal_Title :
Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TED.2002.801294
