Method of making light emitting diode displays

Abstract

Light emitting diodes (LEDs) and LED bars and LED arrays formed of semiconductive material such as III-V and particularly AIGaAs/GaAs material are formed in very thin structures using organometallic vapor deposition (OMCVD). Semiconductor p-n junctions are formed as deposited using carbon as the p-type impurity dopant. Various lift-off methods are described which permit back side processing when the growth substrate is removed and also enabled device registration for LED bars and arrays to be maintained.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A light emitting array alphanumeric display device comprising: 
 a plurality of light emitting pixel diode elements formed with a III-V semiconductor material, the pixel elements positioned to form an array of columns and rows of an alphanumeric display device;    a column driver circuit formed with a silicon material and connected to the columns of pixel elements;    a row driver circuit formed with a silicon material and connected to the rows of pixel elements; and    a display control circuit connected to the column driver circuit and the row driver circuit, the display control circuit selectively actuating the pixel elements to display alphanumeric information.    
     
     
         2 . The light emitting alphanumeric display device of  claim 1  wherein the array is positioned over a silicon layer with which the column driver circuit and row driver circuit are formed, the array being monolithically interconnected to the column driver circuit and the row driver circuit.  
     
     
         3 . The light emitting alphanumeric display device of  claim 1  wherein the display device is mounted to a leadless chip carrier.  
     
     
         4 . The light emitting alphanumeric display device of  claim 1  further comprising a video input circuit.  
     
     
         5 . The light emitting alphanumeric display device of  claim 1  wherein the III-V material comprises gallium arsenide.  
     
     
         6 . The light emitting alphanumeric display device of  claim 1  wherein the array is bonded to the silicon material with an adhesive layer.  
     
     
         7 . The light emitting alphanumeric display device of  claim 1  wherein the thickness of the light emitting diodes is less than 5 microns.  
     
     
         8 . The light emitting alphanumeric display device of  claim 1  further comprising a lens positioned to magnify an image generated on the display.  
     
     
         9 . The light emitting alphanumeric display device of  claim 1  further comprising a support that mounts the display on a user's head.  
     
     
         10 . The light emitting alphanumeric display device of  claim 1  wherein there are more than about 1000 pixel elements.  
     
     
         11 . The light emitting alphanumeric display device of  claim 1  wherein the column driver circuit and the row driver circuit are formed from a common layer of silicon material.  
     
     
         12 . The light emitting alphanumeric display device of  claim 1  wherein the common substrate is a silicon substrate.  
     
     
         13 . A method of forming a light emitting matrix display device comprising: 
 forming a plurality of light emitting pixel elements with a light emitting material, the pixel elements positioned to form an array of columns and rows of a matrix display device;    forming a column driver circuit with a silicon material;    forming a row driver circuit formed with a silicon material;    connecting the column driver circuit to the columns of pixel elements and connecting the row driver circuit to the rows of pixel elements; and    connecting the column driver circuit and the row driver circuit to a display control circuit, the display control circuit selectively actuating the pixel elements to display alphanumeric information.    
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13  further comprising forming the light emitting pixel elements in a gallium arsenide material.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13  further comprising transferring the light emitting array from a first substrate to mount the array over a region of the silicon material.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15  further comprising bonding the array to the silicon material with an adhesive.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13  further comprising mounting the display to a support that mounting on a user's head.  
     
     
         18 . A light emitting display device comprising: 
 a plurality of light emitting pixel elements formed from a light emitting material, the pixel elements positioned to form an array of columns and rows of a display panel;    a column driver circuit formed from a layer of semiconductor material and connected to the columns of pixel elements;    a row driver circuit formed from the layer of semiconductor material and connected to the rows of pixel elements;    an optically transparent substrate to which the array of pixel elements, the column driver circuit and the row driver circuit are mounted; and    a display control circuit connected to the column driver circuit and the row driver circuit, the display control circuit selectively actuating the pixel elements to display an image.    
     
     
         19 . The device of  claim 18  wherein the substrate comprises glass.  
     
     
         20 . The device of  claim 18  wherein the device comprises a personal communications device.  
     
     
         21 . The device of  claim 18  wherein the device comprises a telephone.  
     
     
         22 . The device of  claim 18  wherein the pixel elements comprise an array of light emitting diodes in a thin film of gallium arsenide material.  
     
     
         23 . The device of  claim 18  wherein the column driver and the row driver are connected to a microprocessor circuit.  
     
     
         24 . The device of  claim 18  further comprising a display input circuit formed with the layer of semiconductor material.  
     
     
         25 . The device of  claim 18  further comprising a lens to magnify an image generated on the display.  
     
     
         26 . The device of  claim 18  further comprising an adhesive to bond the display panel to the substrate.