Nano-Scale Touch Electrode Fabrication via Electronic Sputtering Transfer
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing methods for forming touch electrodes in OLED touch screens, such as printing or photolithography, struggle to achieve high resolution due to micron-scale line widths, leading to low precision and placement errors, which affect display quality and yield, especially as the requirement for high Pixels Per Inch (PPI) increases.
Innovation Solution
A method involving electronic sputtering and transferring is used to form linear touch electrodes with nano-scale line widths on OLED substrates, utilizing a carrier with nano-scale metal lines formed by electronic beam lithography, allowing for precise alignment and transfer of metal conductive material lines onto the OLED substrate, enabling line widths less than or equal to 190 nm.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If printing or photolithography process is used to form touch electrodes, then the process is simple and easy to manufacture, but the line width can merely reach micron level and placement precision is low
Solution Approach 1:
The fabrication process is divided into multiple stages: first forming the OLED substrate with its functional layers, then separately forming the touch electrode pattern on a carrier substrate, and finally transferring the pattern to the OLED substrate. This segmentation allows each stage to be optimized independently, achieving high precision without excessive overall complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
A carrier substrate is introduced as an intermediary to form the touch electrode pattern before transfer. This carrier acts as a temporary platform that enables precise pattern formation through electron beam lithography, which would be difficult to achieve directly on the OLED substrate, and facilitates controlled transfer to the final position.
2Manufacturing precision
If touch electrodes are formed with micron-scale line width by printing or photolithography, then the fabrication process is easier, but it is difficult to meet high PPI requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The touch electrode pattern is preliminarily formed on the carrier substrate before being transferred to the OLED substrate. This preliminary action allows the use of electron beam lithography to create highly precise nano-scale patterns that meet high PPI requirements, while the subsequent transfer process makes the overall fabrication manageable.
Solution Approach 2:
The problem of achieving high precision directly on the OLED substrate is solved by moving to another dimension - forming the pattern on a separate carrier substrate first, then transferring it. This dimensional separation allows independent optimization of pattern precision and fabrication ease.
3Manufacturing precision
If touch electrodes are arranged in the non-opening zone, then the touch function is implemented, but the line width and spacing requirements conflict with high PPI display requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The mechanical printing or photolithography process is replaced with electron beam lithography for pattern formation. This substitution enables achieving line widths and spacing in the sub-micron range, allowing touch electrodes to be precisely placed in the non-opening zone without conflicting with high PPI display requirements, thereby improving both precision and yield.
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 approach reduces the touch electrode width to near the wavelength of visible light, allowing for increased aperture ratio and improved yield, making the touch display substrate more suitable for high PPI requirements without obstructing visible light.
Implementation Method 1
sputtering a metal conductive material on a carrier having a pattern of a nano-scale metal line by electronic sputtering
Implementation Method 2
forming a nano-scale metal line on a body of the carrier using an electronic beam lithography
Data Source
AI summary
A method for fabricating a touch display substrate and a touch display substrate are provided to solve the problem that existing touch electrodes of the micron-scale line width cannot meet the high PPI requirement. The fabrication method includes forming functional layers of an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) device on a base substrate sequentially to obtain an OLED substrate; and forming a linear touch electrode with a nano-scale line width on the OLED substrate by electronic sputtering and transferring.