Mask and Bond Aligner

• Subject Area: Electrical Engineering and Information Technology
• Term: Funded in 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 501431011

While LEDs for Solid State Lighting are state-of-the-art, there evolves an enormous interest in novel microLEDs. The Institute of Semiconductor Technology is one of the leading university based institutes in this area of research. Here, microLED modules are developed for applications in nanometrology and photonics in general, which are the basis for SMILE modules (SMILE = structured micro illuminatoin light engines). Potential applications are in fields like chip-based superresoultion microscopy, optogenetics, optosensing and many other applications. For this research, lateral patterning is a fundamental technological process, which has to be repeated every day with highest possible reproducibility. Besides exposure by a Mask Aligner, the wafer bonding becomes more and more important. Only by hybrid bonding of different wafers, different fucntionality can be combined in one module. Such hybrid bonding processes are of utmost importance for microLED research, since the combination with CMOS electronic chips is the only viable realisation of microLED arrays with large pixel numbers. For that, GaN microLED chips and Silicon CMOS chips have to be connected by hybrid bonding technology. For the bond alignment, two wafers are aligned and connected under pressure and temperature. The new system will contain both mask alignment and bond alignment capability. In addition, various LED lamps can be used to dynamically tune the exposure intensity, in this way circumventing ultra-long exposure times of more than 120 min., as is the case today. Here, we apply for a combined system of mask and bond aligner, which will be a central technology step for our future reserach. The system will put our lithography quality onto a new level, enable hybrid bonding (not existing today), and give us the capability to stay compatible with commercial LED wafers, which are often used as a base material for the fabrication of microLED modules with large pixel numbers.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Mask und Bond Aligner
• Instrumentation Group: 0930 Spezialgeräte der Halbleiterprozeßtechnik
• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität Braunschweig
• Leader: Professor Dr. Andreas Waag