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Invited

High-Brightness GaN LED Arrays Hybridized

on Silicon Interconnect at a Pixel Pitch of 10 μm
François Templier, Hubert Bono, Jean-Marc Bethoux, François Marion,
Ivan-Christophe Robin, Marie-Antoinette di Forte-Poisson*
CEA-LETI, Minatec Campus, Grenoble, France and 3-5 Lab, Grenoble, France
*3-5 Lab, Palaiseau, France

Keywords: Microdisplay, LED, GaN, high-brightness, hybridization

ABSTRACT technology also compatible with.

We have developed high-brightness GaN LED
arrays hybridized on Silicon interconnect at a pixel
pitch of 10 μm. The GaN LED arrays has been
developed and hybridized on silicon interconnect
using the microtube technology. The devices
provide high optical power and brightness over 1 x
7
10 Cd/m².
1. INTRODUCTION
The growing interest for wearable devices has
highlighted the need for high performance
microdisplays. Such displays are currently based on
technologies such as liquid-crystal displays
(reflective or transmissive), organic LEDs (OLEDs),
or MEMS-based devices like micro-mirror arrays
(digital light processing) and laser-beam steering
(LBS). Emissive microdisplays such as OLEDs are
particularly attractive for these applications: the fact
that each pixel is self-emitting provides low
consumption and high compactness, together with
excellent image quality [1]. However, for some
applications such as see-through glasses, a
brightness of 5000 Cd/m² or more is needed, which
exceeds the possibilities of OLED microdisplays. In
the mean-time, there is also a need for
high-brightness emissive microdisplays for
applications like compact hand-held projectors and
small-size head-up displays (HUD). Group-III
nitrides composed of GaN and its alloys with InN and
AlN have put a breakthrough in the lighting market
due to their outstanding performance and ability to
emit a wide range of wavelengths in the near UV and
visible spectrum. Later, it has been proposed to use
such materials for making high-brightness
microdisplays [2], and in 2011 a full-resolution
active-matrix III-N display could be demonstrated [3].
This display was fabricated by hybridizing an InGaN
array on CMOS driving circuit using the conventional
flip-chip technology with In bumps. The pixel pitch
was 15 μm.
To be used in see-through systems or other
compact HMDs, the pixel pitch has to be reduced to
10 μm or less. To achieve this, at least two
conditions are required: fabricate LED array with
such small pitch, and develop hybridization
In this paper we present the fabrication of a very
high-brightness, GaN-based LED array hybridized
on a Silicon interconnect with a pixel pitch as small
as 10 μm. To achieve this, a 10 μm-pitch LED array
has been developed, and was hybridized on silicon
interconnect using the microtube technology.
2. EXPERIMENTAL AND PROCESS DEVELOPMENT
2.1 Overall approach
Considering the high-temperature constraints of
GaN material deposition, it is not possible to
fabricate monolithic LED microdisplay by direct
GaN deposition on the CMOS active-matrix.
Therefore, to fabricate such displays, hybridization
of GaN LED array and CMOS circuit is mandatory.
To achieve this, the straightforward approach
consists of fabricating GaN array on sapphire,
fabricating interconnect pattern on silicon, and
hybridize them. Particular constraints of such
hybridization will be discussed further.
2.2 GaN LED Array
GaN LED array are made on sapphire substrates.
Base wafers consist of 2-in. diameter sapphire with
440 nm LED Multi Quantum Well (MQW)
InGaN/GaN epitaxial structure grown by
metal-organic chemical vapor deposition
(MOCVD). GaN array process has been developed
to achieve 10 μm pixel-pitch. As shown on Figure 1,
it consists of (i) patterning the pixels by etching
GaN stack using plasma process, (ii) depositing
and patterning the P-contact metal pads and (iii)
depositing and patterning the N-type contact. Also
insulators are deposited to ensure electrical
isolation (not shown on figure).
Finished GaN wafers have a series of LED-arrays
having each 300 x 252 pixels at 10-μm pitch
(Figure 2).
Prior to hybridization, singulation of LED-arrays is
made by wafer dicing.
2.3 Hybridization
2.3.1 Microtube technology
A particular difficulty for hybridizing GaN LED
array and CMOS active-matrix is that it should be
performed at low temperature, due to the
mismatch of substrate coefficient of thermal


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expansion (Sapphire vs. Silicon),. In the meantime,
a small pixel-pitch is desired for microdisplay
application, namely 10 μm and less. Classical
hybridization technique such as bump flip-chip
technology is not compatible with pixel-pitch of 10
μm or less. In the recent years, LETI has developed
the so-called microtube technology which combines
low-temperature operation (Æ compatible with
heterogeneous substrates) [4] and pixel-pitch of 10
μm and less. It has been already demonstrated that
it is possible to hybridize heterogeneous devices at
a pixel pitch of 10 μm using microtube technology [5].
Therefore this technique appears to be very suitable
for LED microdisplay application, and it has been
chosen for this work. The principle of this technique
is to grow microtubes on the pads of the CMOS, and
align/couple the CMOS with the GaN array, the
microtubes being then inserted in the GaN arrays
pads.
2.3.2 Fabrication of silicon interconnect
The interconnect-on-silicon structure is fabricated
by patterning an interconnect network, patterning
metal pads, and finally depositing microtubes on the
pads for subsequent hybridization (Figure 3).
2.3.3 Hybridization of display device
GaN arrays are then hybridized onto the silicon
interconnect as shown on Figure 4 (principle) and
Figure 5 which shows photograph of a series of 4
LED-arrays hybridized on silicon circuit. The pixels
share a common anode (n-type contact) with
independently addressed cathodes (p-type contact).
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Hybridized GaN arrays have been tested electrically
and optically. Figure 6 shows addressing of one 6.5
x 6.5 μm pixel from a hybridized 10μm-pitch array.
I-V-L characterization has been performed on the
devices. Optical power of one pixel is shown on
Figure 7. The inset is a photograph of the emitting
pixel. The optical power is measured by a calibrated
optical power meter placed on the sapphire side of
the μLED array. Power per pixel exceeds 50 μW for
a driving current of 1 mA.
Figure 8 shows brightness as a function of driving
current. It is evidenced that a brightness of more
7
than 10 Cd/m² is obtained from the hybridized LED
array. This outstanding luminance level is several
orders of magnitude higher than those of OLED or
other types of microdisplays. We note that such
brightness levels are obtained with rather high
driving current. One can estimate efficiency of these
devices. In the range of the brightness level of 1 x
6
10 Cd/m², the current is around 80 μA (current
density: 240 A/cm²) and voltage 3 V, which
corresponds to an electrical power of 400 μW.

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Considering the optical power of 10 μW, this gives
an efficiency of ~ 2.5 %. If we compare with
performance of typical large size (say 1 mm²) /
single LEDs where efficiency for comparable
current density should be in the range 10 -15 %, we
see that we are less than an order of magnitude
below, which is a fairly good result if we consider
the extreme small size of the device.
Some devices were operated during 15 mn with a
driving current of 1 mA, corresponding to very high
6
brightness level (8 x 10 Cd/m²). No significant
diminution of brightness has been measured after
this time. This first result seems to indicate that
such device exhibit very good lifetime performance,
particularly if we emphasize the high power
densities involved (1 mA corresponds to more than
2000 A/cm²).
In summary, these first 10μm-pitch hybridized
GaN LED arrays exhibit very good performances
and particularly a very high brightness.
4. CONCLUSION
This work demonstrates 10 μm pitch GaN LED
arrays, the smallest pixel-pitch ever published to
the authors knowledge. Also an outstanding
7
brightness of more than 1 x 10 Cd/m² is achieved
on these hybridized GaN LED arrays.
These results show that the developed
technology is very promising for the fabrication of
high resolution, small pixel-pitch, high-brightness
and reliable GaN-based emissive microdisplays. A
very wide filed of applications can be targeted:
HMD systems (including see-through glasses
which represent a huge potential market), compact
projectors, and compact Head-up displays.
Despite that the measured efficiency is fairly good
(2.5 %) considering the extremely small size of the
devices, further work is needed to improve it to
lower input current. Also, lifetime performance will
be evaluated more extensively.
REFERENCES
[1] G. Haas, E. Marcellin-Dibon, “High Resolution
OLED Microdisplays for Electronic Vision
Systems”, Proc. of IDW/AD’12, Japan (2012)
[2] S. X. Jin, J. Li, J. Z. Li, J. Y. Lin, and H. X. Jiang,
Appl. Phys. Lett. 76, 631 (2000)
[3] J. Day, J. Li, D. Y. C. Lie, C. Bradford, J. Y. Lin
and H. X. Jiang, Appl. Phys. Lett., 99,
p031116 (2011)
[4] F. Marion et al., “Aluminum to Aluminum
Bonding at Room Temperature“, Proceedings
of the 63th Electronic Components and
Technology Conference, Las Vegas 2013,
pp146-153 (2013)
[5] B. Goubault de Brugière et al., “A 10ȝm Pitch
Interconnection Technology using Micro Tube
 

Insertion into Al-Cu for 3D Applications”,

Electronic Components and Technology
Conference, IEEE (2011)

Fig. 4 Schematic of hybridized LED-array

on Silicon circuit with microtube
technology.

Fig. 1 Fabrication of the LED-Array on sapphire.

Fig. 5 Photograph of 4 LED-arrays

hybridized on Silicon at a pixel pitch of
10 μm.

Fig. 2 Photograph of LED-array with pixel-pitch

of 10 μm: top: view of a finished wafer including
several LED-arrays and test patterns; bottom:
expanded view (microscope) of Array.

Fig. 6 Photographs of one 6.5 x 6.5 μm

pixel emitting from the hybridized
LED-array at 10 μm pitch. Top: overall
view: connection of device; Bottom:
closer view from above

Fig. 3 Structure of silicon circuit with

microtubes.


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Fig. 7 Output optical power as a function of Fig. 8 Brightness as a function of driving

driving current from a 6.5 x 6.5 μm LED current from a 6.5 x 6.5 μm LED pixel
Fig. 8 Brightness as a function of driving
pixel current from a 6.5 x 6.5 μm LED pixel


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