The Role of Integrated Manufacturing Systems in Enhancing Display Defect Repair with UPD Technology
XTPL’s Ultra-Precise Deposition technology fits seamlessly into Integrated Manufacturing Systems, enhancing defect repair operations for display manufacturers and increasing production yield.
While display products like LCDs, OLEDs, and microLEDs have only been around for a handful of decades, the manufacturing processes behind them have evolved tremendously in a short time—particularly in recent years with the pursuit of increasingly miniaturized electronics. Not only has this evolution been driven by advances in electronic deposition techniques like inkjet printing, vacuum evaporation, and maskless production, it has also been made possible through the creation of Integrated Manufacturing Systems (IMS), which streamline workflows and facilitate scalable production with a high level of process monitoring and automation.
Integrated Manufacturing Systems connect various production steps through intelligent software, including design, planning, production, and quality control. This means that as products move through development and production on their way to market, real-time data is shared seamlessly across teams and departments, unlocking better coordination, traceability, and efficiency for display production.
Notably, Integrated Manufacturing Systems have also played a role in enhancing display defect repair workflows—a topic which we’ll dive into in more detail in this article.
The State of Display Defect Repair
When we talk about display defect repair, we often think of bringing a damaged smartphone to a repair shop for a fix or screen replacement. Anyone who has done this will appreciate the complexity involved in repairing a damaged display and the time it can take to fix it. Now, imagine this on an industrial scale: LCD, OLED, and microLED display manufacturers can’t realistically manually repair every display impacted by a defect on the production line, the cost and labor requirements have been far too prohibitive.
Moreover, repair technologies, such as electrohydrodynamic printing (EHD), laser chemical vapour deposition (LCVD), and laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT), have been largely limited by their cost and lack of scalability, as well as the risk of potentially damaging displays further due to electrostatic discharge, particularly in the case of EHD.[1] The standard has therefore been to reject defects, which also has a significant impact on manufacturers’ bottom line.
Fortunately, the rise of Integrated Manufacturing Systems and state-of-the-art electronics repair processes like XTPL’s Ultra-Precise Dispensing (UPD) are making it possible to automate and scale repair processes for state-of-the-art displays. Integrated Manufacturing Systems, powered by advanced robotics and sensors and intelligent software, have been vital to quality control processes, enabling display manufacturers to identify defects on a mass scale and automate their repair.
Display repair with Ultra-Precise Dispensing
On the repair front, XTPL’s UPD technology is making it possible for display manufacturers to integrate defect repair into their integrated production workflows. UPD is an innovative solution for dispensing nanomaterials, such as conductive inks loaded with silver nanoparticles, onto a variety of substrates at ultra-high resolutions of down to 0.5-1 μm. The process utilizes a fine nozzle and compressed air to precisely dispense conductive nanoinks and nanopastes onto technological substrates, ranging from flat circuits to three-dimensional systems on a chip. The process is also capable of dispensing other materials, like dielectric and photoresist inks as well as quantum dots.
XTPL’s technology is ideal for display defect repair since it can selectively deposit conductive traces where discontinuity of conductive paths may occur (open defect correction), create alternate “detour” traces to circumvent substrate defects or broken conductive lines, and do PCB pad reconstruction with a high aspect ratio. For example, if a flat panel display manufacturer is left with a thin film transistor (TFT) with a broken conductive path, it is possible to print a detour path that repairs the circuit seamlessly. Critically, the precision of the UPD process ensures that defects can be repaired while preserving the integrity of the display.
UPD also stands out because it does not require any specific voltage in the printing process (it is electromagnetically compatible), making it versatile and safe to use for open defect repair when conventional repair methods are not suitable. Other benefits of using UPD for display defect repair include:
- The ability to repair miniaturized display circuits, like microLEDs, thanks to high-precision nano-scale dispensing
- A high level of adhesion between conductive inks and the substrate for stable and robust connections
- Greater sustainability in display manufacturing through the use of XTPL’s non-toxic materials and minimized waste associated with rejected products
- Above all, an increased production yield and greater production efficiency
Integrated repair workflows
XTPL’s UPD process can be seamlessly integrated to boost the efficiency of LCD, OLED, and microLED display production workflows. This is in large part due to the fact that the electronic printing technology is computer-aided, meaning that it is controlled by software and digital toolpaths, requiring minimal setup and labor—in contrast to more traditional repair processes have been highly labor intensive or near impossible to scale in the case of miniaturized displays.
With UPD technology and an Integrated Manufacturing System, display manufacturers can realize highly automated and efficient manufacturing processes that are capable of better identifying defects in the production line and repairing these defects at micro- and nano-scales. Overall, this combination is paving the way for greater production efficiency, less waste, and greater yields, which could ultimately drive down production costs and consumer costs for advanced electronic devices.
UPD in action
XTPL’s Ultra-Precise Dispensing technology has already been adopted by a select number of companies in the display manufacturing and display repair industries. For example, in recent years, XTPL has been working with South Korea-based HB Technology, a manufacturer of equipment for testing and repairing devices for the most advanced display makers, including Samsung Display Corporation and Beijing BOE Display Technology.
HB Technology has been using UPD to repair advanced micro OLED displays used in specialized medical and military devices, professional cameras, sky observation devices, and smart glasses. Do Soon Jung, Vice President HB Technology, said of the partnership: “we have deeply evaluated different printing technologies available worldwide for some of the most challenging use-cases in ultra-high resolution next generation displays. In our collaboration, the XTPL team demonstrated that their technology has a unique technological solution and a very good potential to enable manufacturing of the next generation flat panel displays.”
More recently, XTPL’s UPD technology was acquired by a leading display maker—a China-based company with annual revenues in the tens of billions. The purchase marks the technology’s first industrial implementation in a display-making production line. The undisclosed client will use UPD to repair defects in ultra-high resolution Flat Panel Displays (FPDs), which are used in smart watches, smart glasses, and other consumer electronics. The manufacturing process for FPDs is highly complex due to the high resolution involved and producers are therefore faced with many production errors and rejected components. XTPL’s solution will be implemented to repair these defects and boost the company’s production efficiency and yield.
The future of display repair
Integrated Manufacturing Systems, which leverage intelligent software and automated hardware to streamline and enhance production workflows, and XTPL’s Ultra-Precise Dispensing technology are shaping the future of LCD, OLED, and microLED manufacturing. In the end, UPD enables display manufacturers to seamlessly integrate repair into the production workflow, dramatically minimizing rejected components and material waste, while augmenting production yields. As the trend for miniaturization in electronics continues, this combination will be increasingly important to achieve high levels of efficiency.
References
[1] Łysień M, Witczak Ł, Wiatrowska A, Fiączyk K, Gadzalińska J, Schneider L, Stręk W, Karpiński M, Kosior Ł, Granek F, Kowalczewski P. High-resolution deposition of conductive and insulating materials at micrometer scale on complex substrates. Scientific reports. 2022 Jun 4;12(1):9327.
