Compliant substrates for thin-film transistor backplanes

Sigurd Wagner; Helena Gleskova; Eugene Y. Ma; Zhigang Suo

doi:10.1117/12.344653

12 April 1999 Compliant substrates for thin-film transistor backplanes

Sigurd Wagner, Helena Gleskova, Eugene Y. Ma, Zhigang Suo

Proceedings Volume 3636, Flat Panel Display Technology and Display Metrology; (1999) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.344653
Event: Electronic Imaging '99, 1999, San Jose, CA, United States

Abstract

The emergence of wearable electronics is leading away form glass substrates for the display backplane, to plastic and metal. At the same time the substrate thickness is reduced to make displays lighter. These two trends cooperate toward the development of compliant substrates, which are designed to off load mechanical stress from the active circuit onto the substrate. Compliant substrates made the circuit particularly rugged against rolling and bending. Design principles for compliant substrates include: (a) Moving the circuit p;lane as close as possible to the neutral plane of the structure, and (b) Using substrate and encapsulation materials with low stiffness. Design principle (a) is demonstrated on thin-film transistors made on thin steel foil. Such transistors function well after the foils are rolled to small radii of curvature. Principle (b) of compliant substrates is demonstrated with bending experiments of a-Si:H TFTs made on thin substrates of polyimide foil. TFTs on 25-micrometers thick polyimide foil may be bent to radii of curvature as low as 0.5 mm without failing. The reduction in bending radius, from R-2 mm on same- thickness steel foil, agrees with the theoretical prediction that changing from a stiff to a compliant substrate reduces the bending strain in the device plane by a factor of up to 5.

Citation Download Citation

Sigurd Wagner, Helena Gleskova, Eugene Y. Ma, and Zhigang Suo "Compliant substrates for thin-film transistor backplanes", Proc. SPIE 3636, Flat Panel Display Technology and Display Metrology, (12 April 1999); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.344653

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