Carrier Substrate Surface Roughness for Flexible Display Handling
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Solution Overview
Problem
The challenge in manufacturing flexible display devices lies in the difficulty of smoothly attaching and separating thin and flexible substrates from carrier substrates, which affects production efficiency and can lead to product damage.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a sand-blast process to create distinct surface roughness on the carrier substrate for forming release and attachment areas, allowing for van der Waals forces and Si—O covalent bonding in specific areas for attachment, while maintaining non-combination in release areas to facilitate smooth cutting and separation without additional mask deposition processes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If a thin and flexible substrate is used to achieve flexibility and thinness in display devices, then the display device can be made thin and flexible, but handling of the substrate becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The thin substrate is nested within or attached to a thicker carrier substrate during manufacturing and handling processes. The carrier substrate provides mechanical support and ease of handling, while the thin substrate remains protected and positionally stable. This allows the thin substrate to be manipulated indirectly through the carrier substrate, solving the handling difficulty without compromising the thinness of the final display device.
2Ease of operation
If a carrier substrate is used to facilitate handling of thin substrates, then handling becomes easier, but additional processes for attachment and separation are required
Solution Approach 1:
The carrier substrate is prepared in advance with pre-formed attachment regions that have specific surface properties (such as different roughness or chemical characteristics) designed to facilitate controlled attachment and separation. This preliminary preparation eliminates the need for additional mask deposition processes during manufacturing, as the attachment and release characteristics are built into the carrier substrate structure before use.
3Manufacturing precision
If additional mask deposition processes are used to control attachment and separation areas, then precise control is achieved, but manufacturing complexity and time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The carrier substrate is designed with spatially varying local properties, such as regions with different surface roughness, chemical composition, or energy characteristics. These local quality variations create distinct attachment and release zones without requiring mask deposition. The local quality differences enable precise control of where attachment occurs and where separation is facilitated, achieving manufacturing precision through material heterogeneity rather than additional processing steps.
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 method enables efficient combination and separation of substrates, reducing the risk of product damage and improving manufacturing yield by allowing for flexible display device production without the need for additional mask deposition processes, enhancing the flexibility and quality of the final product.
Implementation Method 1
a first release area and a first attachment area around the first release area on a first surface... The first release area may be formed by a sand-blast process... A surface roughness of the first release area may be about 0.15 μm to about 1.2 μm by the sand-blast process
Implementation Method 2
combining the carrier substrate and the base substrate by a van der Waals' force in the first attachment area
Implementation Method 3
combining the carrier substrate and the base substrate by inducing a Si—O covalent bond between the carrier substrate and the base substrate in the first attachment area through a thermal treatment
Implementation Method 4
the base substrate may be cut by irradiating a laser beam
Data Source
AI summary
A method of manufacturing a flexible display device and a carrier substrate for manufacturing the same are disclosed. In one aspect, the method includes preparing a first release area and a first attachment area around the first surface area on a first surface, attaching a base substrate to the first surface, and forming a display unit on the base substrate corresponding to the first release area of the carrier substrate. The method also includes cutting the area of the base substrate corresponding to the first release area of the carrier substrate so as to include the display unit, and separating the cut base substrate from the carrier substrate. Thus, the carrier substrate and the base substrate may be smoothly combined with each other and separated from each other without an additional mask deposition process. Also, damage to a product that may occur during combination and separation of the substrates may be much reduced.