A Roll-to-Roll Process for Manufacturing Flexible Active-Matrix Backplanes Using Self-Aligned Imprint Lithography and Plasma Processing

Inexpensive large area arrays of thin film transistors (TFTs) on flexible substrates will enable many new display products that cannot be cost effectively manufactured by conventional means. This paper presents a new approach for low cost manufacturing of electronic devices using roll-to-roll (R2R) processes exclusively. It was developed in partnership by Hewlett Packard Laboratories and Iowa Thin Film Technologies (ITFT), a solar cell manufacturer. The approach combines ITFT's unique processes for vacuum deposition and etching of semiconductors, dielectrics and metals on continuous plastic webs with a method HP has invented for the patterning and aligning the multiple layers of a TFT with sub-micron accuracy and feature size.