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Three-dimensional monolithic micro-LED display driven by atomically thin transistor matrix

Nature Nanotechnology volume 16, pages 1231–1236 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

Two-dimensional materials are promising candidates for future electronics due to unmatched device performance at atomic limit and low-temperature heterogeneous integration. To adopt these emerging materials in computing and optoelectronic systems, back end of line (BEOL) integration with mainstream technologies is needed. Here, we show the integration of large-area MoS2 thin-film transistors (TFTs) with nitride micro light-emitting diodes (LEDs) through a BEOL process and demonstrate high-resolution displays. The MoS2 transistors exhibit median mobility of 54 cm2 V−1s −1, 210 μA μm−1 drive current and excellent uniformity. The TFTs can drive micrometre-sized LEDs to 7.1 × 107 cd m−2 luminance under low voltage. Comprehensive analysis on driving capability, response time, power consumption and modulation scheme indicates that MoS2 TFTs are suitable for a range of display applications up to the high resolution and brightness limit. We further demonstrate prototypical 32 × 32 active-matrix displays at 1,270 pixels-per-inch resolution. Moreover, our process is fully monolithic, low-temperature, scalable and compatible with microelectronic processing.

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Fig. 1: Monolithic integration of MoS2 TFTs with micro-LEDs.
Fig. 2: MoS2 transistor performance.
Fig. 3: Driving individual micro-LEDs by MoS2 TFTs.
Fig. 4: High-resolution AM micro-LED displays.

Data availability

The data that support the plots within this paper and other finding of this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Code availability

All code used in this work is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Leading-edge Technology Programme of Jiangsu Natural Science Foundation (grant no. BK20202005); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 61927808, 61521001, 61734003, 61861166001, 61851401, 51861145202, 62004104, 61974062, 61921005, 91964202); the Strategic Priority Research Programme of Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant no. XDB30000000); the National Key Research and Development Programme of China (grant no. 2016YFB0404101); the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (grant no. BK20202005); the Collaborative Innovation Center of Solid-State Lighting and Energy-Saving Electronics, Research Funds from NJU-Yangzhou Institute of Opto-electronics and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China.

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Wanqing Meng, Feifan Xu, Zhihao Yu, Tao Tao.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Electronic Science and Engineering and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

    Wanqing Meng, Feifan Xu, Zhihao Yu, Tao Tao, Liangwei Shao, Lei Liu, Taotao Li, Weisheng Li, Hongkai Ning, Ningxuan Dai, Feng Qin, Xuecou Tu, Danfeng Pan, Youdou Zheng, Bin Liu, Rong Zhang, Yi Shi & Xinran Wang

  2. Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials, Nanjing, China

    Feifan Xu, Tao Tao, Youdou Zheng, Bin Liu, Rong Zhang, Yi Shi & Xinran Wang

  3. College of Electronic and Optical Engineering, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing, China

    Zhihao Yu

  4. College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

    Taotao Li & Yanqing Lu

  5. Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) and Institution of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing Tech University (NanjingTech), Nanjing, China

    Kaichuan Wen & Jianpu Wang

  6. SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Lab of MEMS of Ministry of Education, Southeast University, Nanjing, China

    Longbing He & Litao Sun

  7. Tianma Microelectronics Co., Ltd, Shanghai, China

    Feng Qin

  8. Microfabrication and Integration Technology Center, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

    Xuecou Tu & Danfeng Pan

  9. Nanjing PureSemi Semiconductor Co., Ltd, Nanjing, China

    Shuzhuan He

  10. State Key Laboratory of Luminescence and Applications, Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, China

    Dabing Li

  11. Collaborative Innovation Center for Optoelectronic Semiconductors and Efficient Devices, Department of Physics, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China

    Rong Zhang

  12. Institute of Future Display Technology, Tan Kah Kee Innovation Laboratory, Xiamen, China

    Rong Zhang

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  1. Wanqing Meng
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Contributions

X.W. conceived the research and supervised the project with B.L., R.Z. and Y.S. W.M, F.X., Z.Y., T.T. developed the MoS2 TFT fabrication and monolithic integration process, fabricated micro-LED structures, conducted electrical measurements and demonstrated AM displays. L.S., W.L., H.N. and N.D. contributed to MoS2 TFT fabrication. L.L. and T.L. performed MoS2 CVD growth and characterizations. F.X., K.W. and J.W. performed LED brightness measurements. L.H. and L.S. performed TEM and data analysis. F.Q., X.T. and D.P. contributed to micro-LED fabrication. S.H. designed peripheral circuits and programs. D.L, Y.Z and Y.L. contributed to data analysis. W.M., Z.Y., B.L. and X.W. co-wrote the manuscript with input from other authors. All authors contributed to discussions.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Bin Liu, Rong Zhang, Yi Shi or Xinran Wang.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Peer review information Nature Nanotechnology thanks Deji Akinwande and Deep Jariwala for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Text 1, Figs. 1–14 and Tables 1 and 2.

Supplementary Video 1

Scanning the QR code by smart phone to get the word ‘MoS2 LED NJU’.

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Meng, W., Xu, F., Yu, Z. et al. Three-dimensional monolithic micro-LED display driven by atomically thin transistor matrix. Nat. Nanotechnol. 16, 1231–1236 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-021-00966-5

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