Wire grid polarizer and method of fabricating the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016274285-A1
Application number	US-201514924423-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 27, 2015
Priority date	Mar 20, 2015
Publication date	Sep 22, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A wire grid polarizer includes a substrate, and a plurality of wire patterns which is arranged on the substrate at periodic intervals, where the wire patterns include first wire patterns, which are disposed on the substrate, and one or more second wire patterns, which are disposed on one or more of the first wire patterns each of the second wire patterns including at least one of a neutral pattern, a surface treatment pattern and first and second monomer block patterns.

First claim

1 . A wire grid polarizer, comprising:
a substrate; and a plurality of wire patterns which is arranged on the substrate at periodic intervals and includes: first wire patterns, which are disposed on the substrate, and one or more second wire patterns, which are disposed on one or more of the first wire patterns, each of the second wire patterns including at least one of a neutral pattern, a surface treatment pattern and first and second monomer block patterns, wherein a portion less than all of the plurality of wire patterns each consists of the first wire pattern, the neutral pattern and the second monomer pattern.

2 . The wire grid polarizer of claim 1 , wherein the surface treatment pattern is disposed between the neutral pattern and one of the first and second monomer block patterns.

3 . The wire grid polarizer of claim 1 , wherein the surface treatment pattern is further disposed on a side of at least one neutral pattern.

4 . The wire grid polarizer of claim 1 , wherein the first wire patterns include metal wire patterns, which reflect light.

5 . A method of fabricating a wire grid polarizer, the method comprising:
sequentially forming a metal layer, a non-selective layer and a soft layer on a substrate; forming a soft pattern layer by patterning the soft layer; dividing the non-selective layer into a selective area and a non-selective area by using the soft pattern layer as a mask; applying a copolymer including two or more different monomers onto the non-selective layer; and forming a block copolymer including first monomer blocks and second monomer blocks by annealing the copolymer such that the monomers of the copolymer are aligned, wherein the forming the block copolymer comprises forming a first block copolymer, which is aligned in a direction parallel to a surface of the selective area and a second block copolymer, which is aligned in a direction perpendicular to a surface of the non-selective area.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the non-selective layer includes a surface, which is divided into areas with different selectivity properties, and controls an order of alignment of the first monomer blocks and the second monomer blocks.

7 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the dividing the non-selective layer, comprises:
partially ashing the soft pattern layer and the non-selective layer to form a plurality of seed patterns and forming the selective area by forming a surface treatment layer on surfaces of the plurality of seed patterns; and forming the non-selective area by washing the soft pattern layer to expose the surface of the non-selective area.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the partially ashing the soft pattern layer and the non-selective layer comprises performing oxygen (O 2 ) plasma treatment on the soft pattern layer and the non-selective layer.

9 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of seed patterns is disposed in at least one of a laterally-tapered shape, a semicircular shape and a rectangular shape in a cross-sectional view.

10 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the surface treatment layer is hydrophilic to one of the monomers of the block copolymer.

11 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the surface treatment layer includes hydroxyl groups (OH—), which are disposed on the exposed surface of the non-selective layer.

12 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the surface treatment layer controls an order of alignment of the first monomer blocks and the second monomer blocks of the first block copolymer and the first block copolymer induces an order of alignment of the first monomer blocks and the second monomer blocks of the second block copolymer.

13 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of seed patterns is arranged on the surface of the non-selective layer at intervals of about 1 micrometer to about 5 micrometers.

14 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the non-selective layer includes at least one of a ketene-series combination, an azide-series compound and a combination thereof.

15 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising, after the forming the first block copolymer and the second block copolymer:
performing a first etching process of forming residual patterns by selectively removing parts of the first monomer blocks from the second block copolymer to form a height difference between the first monomer blocks and the second monomer blocks of the second block copolymer; and performing a second etching process of removing at least one of the metal layer, the non-selective layer, the surface treatment layer, the first monomer blocks and the second monomer blocks from below the residual patterns.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the first etching process uses a chemical reactive gas including at least one of an oxygen gas, a fluorocarbon gas, hydrogen fluoride (HF) and a chlorine (Cl) gas.

17 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the residual patterns cover the surface of the non-selective layer in the non-selective area.

18 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the second etching gas uses a non-reactive inert gas including at least one of a hydrogen (H) gas, an argon (Ar) gas, a helium (He) gas and a mixed gas thereof.

19 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the second etching process forms a plurality of wire patterns, including first wire patterns, which are provided by etching the metal layer, and one or more second wire patterns, which are disposed on one or more of the first wire patterns, each of the second wire patterns including at least one of a neutral pattern, which is provided by part of the non-selective layer which remains unetched, a surface treatment pattern, which is provided by part of the surface treatment layer which remains unetched, and first and second monomer block patterns, which are provided by parts of the first monomer blocks and the second monomer blocks which remain unetched.

20 . A display device, comprising:
a protective layer which is disposed on a wire grid polarizer; gate lines which are disposed on the protective layer and extend in a first direction; data lines which are insulated from the gate lines and extend in a second direction; thin-film transistors which are electrically connected to the gate lines and the data lines; and pixel electrodes which are electrically connected to the thin-film transistors, wherein the wire grid polarizer includes a plurality of wire patterns, which is disposed on a substrate to protrude and are arranged at periodic intervals, and the plurality of wire patterns includes first wire patterns, which are disposed on the substrate, and one or more second wire patterns, which are disposed on one or more of the first wire patterns, each of the second wire patterns including at least one of a neutral pattern, a surface treatment pattern and first and second monomer block patterns, wherein a portion less than all of the plurality of wire patterns each consists of the first wire pattern, the neutral pattern and the second monomer pattern.

Assignees

• Samsung Display Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kang Min Hyuck
• Jang Hyeong Gyu
• Kwak Eun Ae
• Lee Moon Gyu

Classifications

• H10D86/441

  Interconnections, e.g. scanning lines · CPC title

• H10D86/411

  characterised by materials, geometry or structure of the substrates · CPC title

• H10D86/0212

  comprising manufacture, treatment or coating of substrates · CPC title

• H10D86/60

  wherein the TFTs are in active matrices · CPC title

• G02B5/3058 Primary

  comprising electrically conductive elements, e.g. wire grids, conductive particles · CPC title