Nanorod Optoelectronic Device Without Growth Substrate
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods are inadequate for precisely arranging and optimizing the growth of small, rod-shaped radiation-generating elements for optoelectronic semiconductor devices, limiting the production of white light-emitting diodes with desired color points, as they require specific growth conditions and are difficult to handle using pick-and-place processes.
Innovation Solution
The optoelectronic semiconductor device features radiation-generating elements with diameters less than 10 μm arranged on a carrier element without a growth substrate, utilizing a lock-and-key principle for self-organization and attachment, allowing for precise placement and separate optimization of different colors, enabling the production of white light-emitting diodes with adjustable color points.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If radiation-generating elements are grown epitaxially on a growth substrate with mask layer, then manufacturing precision and arrangement control are improved, but device complexity and handling difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention separates the growth substrate and mask layer from the final device structure. Radiation-generating elements are grown on a sacrificial growth substrate, then the substrate and mask layer are removed, leaving only the nanorods on the carrier element. This segmentation eliminates the complexity of maintaining growth substrates in the final device while preserving the precision benefits of epitaxial growth.
Solution Approach 2:
The arrangement precision is achieved through preliminary patterning of the growth substrate with mask openings before epitaxial growth. The mask layer and substrate are removed after growth, having served their purpose of defining precise positions during manufacturing. This preliminary action allows high precision without carrying forward the complexity of the patterning infrastructure.
2Manufacturing precision
If growth temperature is adjusted to produce different colors, then emission wavelength control is improved, but production efficiency and versatility decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The invention enables preliminary optimization of growth conditions for each color type by producing monochromatic nanorods in separate epitaxial growth processes. Each growth run can be precisely tuned for a specific wavelength without compromising other colors. The nanorods are then combined in predetermined ratios on the carrier element, achieving versatile color control without sacrificing production efficiency through sequential specialized growth runs.
3Ease of operation
If nanorods are detached from growth substrate, then handling flexibility is improved, but orientation control and preferential direction are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The invention introduces an intermediary attachment layer between the nanorods and the carrier element. This layer, formed by depositing material such as aluminum oxide or silicon dioxide on the nanorod root surfaces, serves as a mediator that maintains orientation control after detachment from the growth substrate. The intermediary layer enables precise positioning and preferred orientation on the carrier element while providing the handling flexibility of detached structures.
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 allows for efficient, precise, and cost-effective production of optoelectronic devices with adjustable white light emission, achieving better electrical and optical characteristics and enabling the production of devices with a broad spectrum for high color rendering indices.
Implementation Method 1
utilizing a lock-and-key principle for self-organization and attachment
Implementation Method 2
each of the radiation-generating elements has a diameter, in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the carrier element, of less than 10 μm... Nanorod-based radiation-generating elements typically have a diameter of at most 5 μm and a length of between 1 and 100 μm
Data Source
AI summary
An optoelectronic semiconductor component is specified, comprising a multiplicity of radiation generating elements (14) arranged at a distance from one another on a surface (22) of a carrier element (20), wherein each of the radiation generating elements has a diameter of less than 10 μm in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the carrier element and adheres to the surface of the carrier element in the region of a respective connection location (26), and wherein the optoelectronic semiconductor component is free of a growth substrate (2).