LIFT printing of conductive traces onto a semiconductor substrate

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11271119-B2
Application number	US-201816194407-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 19, 2018
Priority date	Oct 19, 2014
Publication date	Mar 8, 2022
Grant date	Mar 8, 2022

Abstract

A method for metallization includes providing a transparent donor substrate (34) having deposited thereon a donor film (36) including a metal with a thickness less than 2 μm. The donor substrate is positioned in proximity to an acceptor substrate (22) including a semiconductor material with the donor film facing toward the acceptor substrate and with a gap of at least 0.1 mm between the donor film and the acceptor substrate. A train of laser pulses, having a pulse duration less than 2 ns, is directed to impinge on the donor substrate so as to cause droplets (44) of the metal to be ejected from the donor layer and land on the acceptor substrate, thereby forming a circuit trace (25) in ohmic contact with the semiconductor material.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for metallization, comprising:
providing a transparent donor substrate having deposited thereon a donor film comprising a metal with a thickness less than 2 μm;
positioning the donor substrate in proximity to an acceptor substrate comprising a semiconductor material with the donor film facing toward the acceptor substrate and with a gap of at least 0.1 mm between the donor film and the acceptor substrate; and
directing a train of laser pulses, having a pulse duration between 0.1 ns and 1 ns, to impinge on the donor substrate so as to cause droplets of the metal to be ejected from the donor layer and land on the acceptor substrate, thereby forming a circuit trace in ohmic contact with the semiconductor material.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the thickness of the donor film is between 0.3 μm and 1.5 μm.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the pulse duration is less than 0.5 ns.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the laser pulses have an energy of at least 3 μJ per pulse, and wherein directing the train of pulses comprises focusing the laser pulses to impinge on the donor film with a spot size less than 35 μm.

5. The method according to of claim 1 , wherein directing the train of laser pulses comprises setting parameters of the laser radiation so that each pulse induces ejection of a single droplet of the metal from the donor film.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the single droplet ejected in response to each pulse has a volume of at least 20 μm 3 and is ejected from the donor film at a velocity of at least 200 m/sec.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein positioning the donor substrate comprises placing the donor substrate so that the gap between the donor film and the acceptor substrate is at least 0.2 mm.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein positioning the donor substrate comprises positioning the donor and acceptor substrates together in an atmosphere of ambient air, wherein the droplets of the metal pass through the ambient air between the donor and acceptor substrates.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the acceptor substrate comprises a silicon wafer.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the silicon wafer is configured as a photovoltaic cell.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the metal comprises aluminum.

12. An apparatus for material deposition, comprising:
a transparent donor substrate having deposited thereon a donor film comprising a metal with a thickness less than 2 μm;
a positioning assembly, which is configured to position the donor substrate in proximity to an acceptor substrate comprising a semiconductor material with the donor film facing toward the acceptor substrate and with a gap of at least 0.1 mm between the donor film and the acceptor substrate; and
an optical assembly, which is configured to direct pulses of laser radiation, having a pulse duration between 0.1 ns and 1 ns, to impinge on the donor substrate so as to cause droplets of the a metal to be ejected from the donor layer and land on the acceptor substrate, thereby forming a circuit trace in ohmic contact with the semiconductor material.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the thickness of the donor film is between 0.3 μm and 1.5 μm.

14. The apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the laser pulses have an energy of at least 3 μJ per pulse, and wherein the optical assembly is configured to focus the laser pulses to impinge on the donor film with a spot size less than 35 μm.

15. The apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the parameters of the laser radiation are set so that each pulse induces ejection of a single droplet of the metal from the donor film.

16. The apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the positioning assembly is configured to position the donor substrate so that the gap between the donor film and the acceptor substrate is at least 0.2 mm.

17. The apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the donor and acceptor substrates are positioned together in an atmosphere of ambient air, wherein the droplets of the metal pass through the ambient air between the donor and acceptor substrates.

18. The apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the metal comprises aluminum.

Assignees

• Orbotech Ltd

Inventors

• Zenou Michael
• Kotler Zvi

Classifications

• H10P14/44 Primary

  Physical vapour deposition [PVD] · CPC title

• H10W70/05

  of insulating or insulated package substrates, or of interposers, or of redistribution layers (manufacture or treatment of leadframes H10W70/04) · CPC title

• H10F19/90

  Structures for connecting between photovoltaic cells, e.g. interconnections or insulating spacers (between thin-film photovoltaic cells on a single substrate H10F19/35) · CPC title

• H10F77/211 Primary

  for photovoltaic cells · CPC title

• H05K2203/107

  Using laser light · CPC title