Loading...
News Article

Verticle shrinks LEDs by chemical dicing

News

Using chemical dicing process, dramatic cost reduction can be achieved by substantial increase in die count per wafer

In order to improve picture quality of the mini-LED displays by increasing local dimming zones, significantly more LEDs are required than conventional LED backlight. For example, 10,000 LEDs are used to build a 12.9 inch iPad Pro screen. Consequently, lowering LED cost is the primary issue for the commercialisation of mini-LED display.

Shrinking die size would be one of the most effective ways to reduce the manufacturing cost. However, shrinking die size is limited with current die singulation technologies (e.g. the industry standard stealth laser dicing process) due to chip damage and extremely long processing time. This is particularly true for the LED die less than 100 μm.

An innovative die singulation technology, 'Chemical Dicing', enabling reduction of mini-LED die size without chip damage has been developed by Verticle. Using the chemical dicing process, dramatic cost reduction can be achieved by substantial increase in die count per wafer. Furthermore, as shown in Table1, it can result in narrower scribe street width as well.

This is attributed to a damage-free nature of the chemical dicing as it separates die by wet chemical etching the street line instead of thermal or mechanical methods which generate heat or acoustic shock waves. As a result, there are no damages around the chip edge, which means distance between active areas and chip cutting edges can be less than 2 μm. Therefore, active area can be enlarged which results in more light output from the same size LED die.


As shown in Table 1, die size shrinking and street narrowing yield dramatic DPW (die per wafer) increase up to 8X as compared with conventional flip-chip based mini-LEDs which have larger die size and wider street widths.

Additional DPW increase can be obtained by chip shaping. Unlike conventional die singulation methods that can only separate die in linear direction (i.e. only able to separate either square or rectangular die), chemical dicing enables free-shape die (e.g. hexagonal) formation and singulation. Hexagonal die can increase DPW by more than 20 percent due to enhanced tiling efficiency and increased usable wafer area (Fig.1).

Using this unique chemical dicing, Verticle was able to fabricate hexagonal die for the first time in the world (Fig. 2). The hexagonal shape symmetry can help better current spreading, which results in higher light output than square or rectangular die. Additionally, hexagonal die light output is enhanced after packaging as well. Hexagonal die produces a beam profile which is much closer to the circular shape of circular lens used in optics design. In contrast, the beam profile of the typical square or rectangular die, when combined with circular lens, is typically distorted.

Moreover, multiple wafers in one batch can be etched simultaneously, resulting in die singulation throughputs which are 500X greater than stealth laser dicing (Table 2).


Specialised in LED and display technology, Verticle has been established in 2004 and located in Silicon Valley, CA USA. Verticle owns the key LED patents and has more than 15 years experience in R&D and chip production.

SiC MOSFETs: Understanding the benefits of plasma nitridation
Wolfspeed reports Q2 results
VueReal secures $40.5m to scale MicroSolid printing
Mitsubishi joins Horizon Europe's FLAGCHIP project
Vishay launches new high voltage SiC diodes
UK team leads diamond-FET breakthrough
GaN adoption at tipping point, says Infineon
BluGlass files tuneable GaN laser patents
QD company Quantum Science expands into new facility
Innoscience files lawsuit against Infineon
Riber revenues up 5% to €41.2m
Forvia Hella to use CoolSiC for next generation charging
Photon Design to exhibit QD simulation tool
Ortel transfers CW laser fabrication to Canada
Luminus adds red and blue multi-mode Lasers
PseudolithIC raises $6M for heterogeneous chiplet tech
Mesa sidewall design improves HV DUV LEDs
IQE revenue to exceed expectations
'Game-changing' VCSEL system targets clinical imaging
German start-up secures finance for SiC processing tech
Macom signs preliminaries for CHIPS Act funding
IQE and Quintessent partner on QD lasers for AI
EU funds perovskite tandems for fuel-free space propulsion
EU to invest €3m in GeSi quantum project
Transforming the current density of AlN Schottky barrier diodes
Turbocharging the GaN MOSFET with a HfO₂ gate
Wolfspeed launches Gen 4 SiC MOSFET technology
Report predicts high growth for UK's North East
Element Six unveils Cu-diamond composite
SemiQ launches hi-rel 1700V SiC MOSFETs
Lynred to exhibit Eyesential SWIR sensor for machine vision
Thorlabs buys VCSEL firm Praevium Research
×
Search the news archive

To close this popup you can press escape or click the close icon.
Logo
x
Logo
×
Register - Step 1

You may choose to subscribe to the Compound Semiconductor Magazine, the Compound Semiconductor Newsletter, or both. You may also request additional information if required, before submitting your application.


Please subscribe me to:

 

You chose the industry type of "Other"

Please enter the industry that you work in:
Please enter the industry that you work in: