nitrohen application for lcd displays manufacturer

Since its initial communalization in the 1990s, active matrix thin-film-transistor (TFT) displays have become an essential and indispensable part of modern living. They are much more than just televisions and smartphones; they are the primary communication and information portals for our day-to- day life: watches (wearables), appliances, advertising, signage, automobiles and more.

However, there are technology drivers and manufacturing challenges that differentiate the two. For semiconductor device manufacturing, there are technology limitations in making the device increasingly smaller. For display manufacturing, the challenge is primarily maintaining the uniformity of glass as consumers drive the demand for larger and thinner displays.

While semiconductor wafer size has maxed because of the challenges of making smaller features uniformly across the surface of the wafer, the size of the display mother glass has grown from 0.1m x 0.1m with 1.1mm thickness to 3m x 3m with 0.5mm thickness over the past 20 years due to consumer demands for larger, lighter, and more cost-effective devices.

As the display mother glass area gets bigger and bigger,so does the equipment used in the display manufacturing process and the volume of gases required. In addition, the consumer’s desire for a better viewing experience such as more vivid color, higher resolution, and lower power consumption has also driven display manufacturers to develop and commercialize active matrix organic light emitting displays (AMOLED).

In general, there are two types of displays in the market today: active matrix liquid crystal display (AMLCD) and AMOLED. In its simplicity, the fundamental components required to make up the display are the same for AMLCD and AMOLED. There are four layers of a display device (FIGURE 1): a light source, switches that are the thin-film-transistor and where the gases are mainly used, a shutter to control the color selection, and the RGB (red, green, blue) color filter.

The thin-film-transistors used for display are 2D transitional transistors, which are similar to bulk CMOS before FinFET. For the active matrix display, there is one transistor for each pixel to drive the individual RGB within the pixel. As the resolution of the display grows, the transistor size also reduces, but not to the sub-micron scale of semiconductor devices. For the 325 PPI density, the transistor size is approximately 0.0001 mm2 and for the 4K TV with 80 PPI density, the transistor size is approximately 0.001 mm2.

Technology trends TFT-LCD (thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal display) is the baseline technology. MO / White OLED (organic light emitting diode) is used for larger screens. LTPS / AMOLED is used for small / medium screens. The challenges for OLED are the effect of < 1 micron particles on yield, much higher cost compared to a-Si due to increased mask steps, and moisture impact to yield for the OLED step.

Mobility limitation (FIGURE 2) is one of the key reasons for the shift to MO and LTPS to enable better viewing experience from higher resolution, etc.

The challenge to MO is the oxidation after IGZO metalization / moisture prevention after OLED step, which decreases yield. A large volume of N2O (nitrous oxide) is required for manufacturing, which means a shift in the traditional supply mode might need to be considered.

Although AMLCD displays are still dominant in the market today, AMOLED displays are growing quickly. Currently about 25% of smartphones are made with AMOLED displays and this is expected to grow to ~40% by 2021. OLED televisions are also growing rapidly, enjoying double digit growth rate year over year. Based on IHS data, the revenue for display panels with AMOLED technol- ogies is expected to have a CAGR of 18.9% in the next five years while the AMLCD display revenue will have a -2.8% CAGR for the same period with the total display panel revenue CAGR of 2.5%. With the rapid growth of AMOLED display panels, the panel makers have accel- erated their investment in the equipment to produce AMOLED panels.

There are three types of thin-film-transistor devices for display: amorphous silicon (a-Si), low temperature polysilicon (LTPS), and metal oxide (MO), also known as transparent amorphous oxide semiconductor (TAOS). AMLCD panels typically use a-Si for lower-resolution displays and TVs while high-resolution displays use LTPS transistors, but this use is mainly limited to small and medium displays due to its higher costs and scalability limitations. AMOLED panels use LTPS and MO transistors where MO devices are typically used for TV and large displays (FIGURE 3).

This shift in technology also requires a change in the gases used in production of AMOLED panels as compared with the AMLCD panels. As shown in FIGURE 4, display manufacturing today uses a wide variety of gases.

These gases can be categorized into two types: Electronic Specialty gases (ESGs) and Electronic Bulk gases (EBGs) (FIGURE 5). Electronic Specialty gases such as silane, nitrogen trifluoride, fluorine (on-site generation), sulfur hexafluoride, ammonia, and phosphine mixtures make up 52% of the gases used in the manufacture of the displays while the Electronic Bulk gases–nitrogen, hydrogen, helium, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and argon – make up the remaining 48% of the gases used in the display manufacturing.

The key ga susage driver in the manufacturing of displays is PECVD (plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition), which accounts for 75% of the ESG spending, while dry etch is driving helium usage. LTPS and MO transistor production is driving nitrous oxide usage. The ESG usage for MO transistor production differs from what is shown in FIGURE 4: nitrous oxide makes up 63% of gas spend, nitrogen trifluoride 26%, silane 7%, and sulfur hexafluoride and ammonia together around 4%. Laser gases are used not only for lithography, but also for excimer laser annealing application in LTPS.

Silane: SiH4 is one of the most critical molecules in display manufacturing. It is used in conjunction with ammonia (NH3) to create the silicon nitride layer for a-Si transistor, with nitrogen (N2) to form the pre excimer laser anneal a-Si for the LTPS transistor, or with nitrous oxide (N2O) to form the silicon oxide layer of MO transistor.

Nitrogen trifluoride: NF3 is the single largest electronic material from spend and volume standpoint for a-Si and LTPS display production while being surpassed by N2O for MO production. NF3 is used for cleaning the PECVD chambers. This gas requires scalability to get the cost advantage necessary for the highly competitive market.

Nitrous oxide: Used in both LTPS and MO display production, N2O has surpassed NF3 to become the largest electronic material from spend and volume standpoint for MO production. N2O is a regional and localized product due to its low cost, making long supply chains with high logistic costs unfeasible. Averaging approximately 2 kg per 5.5 m2 of mother glass area, it requires around 240 tons per month for a typical 120K per month capacity generation 8.5 MO display production. The largest N2O compressed gas trailer can only deliver six tons of N2O each time and thus it becomes both costly and risky

Nitrogen: For a typical large display fab, N2 demand can be as high as 50,000 Nm3/hour, so an on-site generator, such as the Linde SPECTRA-N® 50,000, is a cost-effective solution that has the added benefit of an 8% reduction in CO2 (carbon dioxide) footprint over conventional nitrogen plants.

Helium: H2 is used for cooling the glass during and after processing. Manufacturers are looking at ways to decrease the usage of helium because of cost and availability issues due it being a non-renewable gas.

N2 On-site generators: Nitrogen is the largest consumed gas at the fab, and is required to be available before the first tools are brought to the fab. Like major semiconductor fabs, large display fabs require very large amounts of nitrogen, which can only be economically supplied by on-site plants.

Individual packages: Specialty gases are supplied in individual packages. For higher volume materials like silane and nitrogen trifluoride, these can be supplied in large ISO packages holding up to 10 tons. Materials with smaller requirements are packaged in standard gas cylinders.

In-fab distribution: Gas supply does not end with the delivery or production of the material of the fab. Rather, the materials are further regulated with additional filtration, purification, and on-line analysis before delivery to individual production tools.

The consumer demand for displays that offer increas- ingly vivid color, higher resolution, and lower power consumption will challenge display makers to step up the technologies they employ and to develop newer displays such as flexible and transparent displays. The transistors to support these new displays will either be LTPS and / or MO, which means the gases currently being used in these processes will continue to grow. Considering the current a-Si display production, the gas consumption per area of the glass will increase by 25% for LTPS and ~ 50% for MO productions.

To facilitate these increasing demands, display manufacturers must partner with gas suppliers to identify which can meet their technology needs, globally source electronic materials to provide customers with stable and cost- effective gas solutions, develop local sources of electronic materials, improve productivity, reduce carbon footprint, and increase energy efficiency through on-site gas plants. This is particularly true for the burgeoning China display manufacturing market, which will benefit from investing in on-site bulk gas plants and collaboration with global materials suppliers with local production facilities for high-purity gas and chemical manufacturing.

Nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) is an inorganic, colorless, non-flammable, toxic gas with a slightly musty odor. It is primarily used to remove silicon and silicon-compounds during the manufacturing of semiconductor devices such as LCD displays, some thin-film solar cells, and other microelectronics. Unlike the fluorinated carbons, Nitrogen Trifluoride is easy to decompose due to relatively low bond energy in N—F bond, and therefore can be a fluorine source.

NF3 has the ability to act as a stable fluorinating agent and has a wide application scope in high-energy laser at dry etching in semiconductor production as a filling gas in lamps to prolong their durability and increase brightness, as well as a detergent gas in CVD apparatus. For all these reasons, nitrogen trifluoride is increasingly used in the electronics industry, primarily for the etching of microcircuits, and for manufacturing of liquid crystal flat panel displays and thin film PV cells.

Once NF3 is released into the atmosphere, it circulates from the surface to the stratosphere hundreds of times before it is destroyed by solar ultraviolet radiation. It is nearly chemically inert in the atmosphere, and the average lifetime of an NF3 molecule in the atmosphere is about 550 years.

Displays of high resolution and rich in colour are the window to the information universe. Quickly type an email on the smartphone display on the way to work, read the latest news from the world on your tablet display or follow your favourite sport on your own 65” TV screen – innovative display technologies make this possible. Today’s displays are constantly in use and exposed to considerable stress, so that these displays have to be very robust and have a long service life. IST METZ GmbH sees itself as a manufacturer of OLED and LCD displays not only as a supplier of UV, LED and excimer systems, but also as a development partner. Applications in UV cleaning, surface modification and surface activation can be implemented by using excimer solutions. Our laboratory and our applications technology department are happy to assist with developing new processes and UV solutions.

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A greenhouse gas estimated to be 17,000 more powerful than carbon dioxide has been manufactured and used for years to make semiconductor chips, LCD flat panel displays and photovoltaic cells. Although its estimated that little of it gets emitted, its potency and long lifespan have prompted researchers to attempt to measure how much of it is in the atmosphere and call for it to be included in a future emissions reduction treaty.

It was not included in the Kyoto Protocol because of its limited production at the time, but in the years since, it use has spread as companies ramped up manufacturing semiconductor chips and now LCDs and photovoltaic systems.

In the report "Nf3, the greenhouse gas missing from Kyoto," University of California professors Michael Prather and Juno Hsu estimate that 4,000 tons of the chemical, which has an estimated lifespan of 550 years, will be produced this year, with double that amount being made in 2010.

Prather said that estimates of how much NF3 is emitted are not reliable enough, and is seeking to measure how much NF3 is in the atmosphere. "It"s very difficult to measure, but it"s measurable," he said. The chemical has become such a concern due to the widespread changeover to LCD displays, which is expected to drive up use of NF3. Last year, Air Products announced it was expanding its U.S. production and doubling its capacity in Korea to make, in total, 3,200 metric tons a year.

What Prather is hoping to find out is the exact impact of the chemical on climate change. He hopes that NF3 is included in future emissions reduction agreements so that there will be more publically available information on production figures and emissions.

The market for LCD displays is undergoing rapid growth centered on notebook computers, cellular phones and LCD televisions. LCD televisions, in particular, are becoming larger and less expensive thanks to technological innovations and the ramping up of mass production. With the appearance of 8K TV sets etc, the consumer appetite for LCD televisions is growing, so demand is expected to continue to expand going forward. CoorsTek provides a variety of materials that are essential to the LCD display manufacturing process and help raise production efficiency.

CoorsTek has developed and supplies a variety of fine ceramic products that are needed to manufacture semiconductors, including quartz glass, carbon products, and silicon carbide products. The purification, processing and evaluation technologies we have developed out of this are highly competitive when applied to the manufacturing process for LCD displays as well, which is quite similar.

We provide a diverse array of materials for the manufacturing processes to help rationalize and streamline LCD production. Products that have earned a strong reputation with our customers include synthetic quartz photomask substrates, a strategic product that improves the exposure precision of micro-circuitry, vacuum breaking filters and silicon carbide materials sintered under atmospheric pressure.

As LCD displays have become larger in recent years, the glass substrates that make up the displays have been growing in stride. Around 2000, the 730 x 920 mm size, called the fourth generation, was mainstream. By 2005, mass production had been initiated for the seventh generation (1,870 x 2,200 mm) and, in 2006, mass production began on 2,160 x 2,400 mm displays, the eighth generation, as the move to larger sizes has accelerated.

In conjunction with this evolution, greater precision and proprietary expertise has come to be required for materials production as well. We already have a system in place to accommodate growth in the size of photomask substrates thanks to our synthetic quartz purification and polishing technologies and unique know-how in the area of mass production, so are ready to meet the rising demand to come.

These current control filters for vacuum breaking*1 use the pressure buffering effects possessed by porous ceramics. They render unnecessary the slow vents*2 that used to be required for vacuum breaking and are effective in reducing particles and preventing particle outbreaks. This product is used not only in the deposition step, but also in the exposure and etching steps.

This ceramic material is next in hardness to diamonds while also being lightweight. It is highly regarded as a material for ultra-flat, lightweight platforms that do not bend or warp, making possible accurate exposure.

This product is used as a roller to convey TFT array substrates. Using highly pure silica glass serves to prevent metallic contamination and damage from particles. For this reason, it is also used for conveyance in the manufacture of sheet glass for flat panel displays (FPD).

Quartz chambers are used as batch furnaces inside heat treatment systems for thin film transistor (TFT) array substrates, which are main type of LCD display using the active matrix method. Compared to metal, quartz is capable of restricting the occurrence of particles to an absolute minimum and it helps prevent metallic contamination.

We offer character LCDs and graphic LCDs as modules or COG (Chip On Glass) displays in a wide array of character and pixel configuration sizes. From yellow/green, red, orange, green, blue, amber, white, and RGB backlight colors to displays without a backlight, we have the perfect LCD for your application.

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NF3 is used in a relatively small number of industrial processes. It is primarily produced in the manufacture of semiconductors and LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) panels, and certain types of solar panels and chemical lasers. To the extent that these processes occur in your company’s direct operations or value chain, they may need to be reflected in future inventories to ensure conformance with GHG Protocol standards.

NF3 is now considered a potent contributor to climate change and is therefore mandated to be included in national inventories under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The GHG Protocol closely aligns its reporting requirements with those of the UNFCCC to ensure consistency between national, corporate and product lifecycle inventories.

More details on NF3 and answers to frequently asked questions are on the GHG Protocol website. This document is the first in a series of new GHG Protocol publications – GHG Protocol Amendments – that alter existing requirements in the standards to reflect new scientific information or changes in business practice. We view them as an essential way to keep our standards up-to-date and to facilitate more impactful emissions-reduction efforts. Please make sure to keep an eye out for future Amendments on lease accounting and other topics.

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