Active Array Temperature Sensing and Cooling for Shadow Mask Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
High-temperature deposition processes in flat panel display manufacturing face challenges in maintaining positional accuracy of shadow masks relative to substrates due to thermal expansion mismatch and temperature gradients, limiting the resolution achievable with vapor deposition shadow mask processes.
Innovation Solution
An active array of temperature sensing and cooling elements is employed to thermally regulate the shadow mask and substrate, ensuring uniform temperature and minimizing thermal gradients, thereby maintaining precise alignment during deposition.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If high-temperature deposition process is used, then material deposition efficiency is improved, but thermal expansion mismatch causes positional inaccuracy between shadow mask and substrate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by actively controlling and adjusting the temperature parameters of both the shadow mask and substrate during the deposition process. Temperature sensors monitor thermal conditions in real-time, and heating/cooling mechanisms adjust temperatures to maintain optimal deposition conditions while compensating for thermal expansion differences between materials with different CTEs, thereby preserving positional accuracy despite high-temperature processing
Solution Approach 2:
The patent directly addresses thermal expansion by selecting shadow mask and substrate materials with matched coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE). This material selection strategy ensures that both components expand and contract at similar rates during temperature cycles, minimizing relative displacement and maintaining registration accuracy throughout the deposition process
2Ease of manufacture
If vapor deposition shadow mask process is used, then manufacturing cost is reduced, but resolution is limited compared to photolithography
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes critical parameters including shadow mask material composition, substrate material selection, deposition temperature profiles, and vacuum conditions to enable vapor deposition shadow mask processing to achieve high resolutions previously only attainable through photolithography. These parameter optimizations allow the cost-effective shadow mask process to produce sub-100 micrometer features while maintaining manufacturing simplicity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies thermal expansion principles by selecting shadow mask and substrate materials with matched CTEs and implementing active temperature control during deposition. This ensures minimal thermal distortion and maintains precise geometric relationships between mask apertures and substrate features, enabling high-resolution patterning with the cost-effective shadow mask process
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution enables uniform manufacture and extends the use of vapor deposition shadow mask processes in high-resolution flat panel display production by maintaining negligible relative movement between the shadow mask and substrate, overcoming thermal errors and achieving improved resolution.
Implementation Method 1
an active array of temperature sensing and cooling elements is employed to thermally regulate the shadow mask and substrate
Implementation Method 2
cooling elements is employed to thermally regulate the shadow mask and substrate, ensuring uniform temperature and minimizing thermal gradients
Implementation Method 3
an active array of temperature sensing and cooling elements is employed to thermally regulate the shadow mask and substrate
Implementation Method 4
there are various heating effects that occur during a high-temperature deposition process, the ability to achieve small microelectronics dimensions and, thus, high resolution, by use of the vapor deposition shadow mask process is limited by thermal errors that play a considerable role in achieving positional accuracy. For example, the materials used for forming both the shadow mask and the substrate have an associated coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE)
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for providing an active array of temperature sensing and cooling elements, including an active heatsink which further includes an active temperature sensing layer, a thermoelectric cooling layer, and a heatsink, which further includes a plurality of cooling channels. The temperature sensing element within the active temperature sensing layer includes a plurality of switching transistors, a linear transistor, a current sense resistor, a thermistor, a voltage sensing bus, a voltage setting bus, a current measurement bus, a measurement switching bus, a sense control bus, a storage capacitor, and a supply voltage, all under the control of a process control computer. The method of using an active array of temperature sensing and cooling elements includes the steps of aligning the shadow mask, depositing the material, detecting a thermal gradient, and controlling the thermoelectric cooling.