Gari Arutinov | Holst Centre: How can you achieve 1-micron precision transfer across a gap five times the die's thickness?

Why are existing laser-assisted microLED transfer methods failing to scale?

The microLED display industry faces a critical bottleneck in the mass transfer phase, where traditional pick-and-place equipment must be replaced by laser-assisted processes. However, a closer look at existing laser transfer paradigms reveals significant, deep-seated limitations. Direct ablation from standard carriers either lacks the necessary precision or introduces unacceptable debris and residues onto the fragile, micron-scale dies.

Alternative approaches like thermal degradation offer higher precision but are severely limited by slow kinetics. The chemical and thermal processes involved in thermal release simply cannot meet the massive throughput demands required for high-volume consumer display manufacturing, making them commercially unviable.

Meanwhile, blister-based laser transfer, though successful for miniLEDs, runs into physical scaling limits. Because the footprint of the generated blister is often larger than the microLED itself, this approach becomes highly questionable when dealing with ultra-high-density wafers or true microLED architectures.

In this short video, you can learn:
* Understand the structural limitations of direct ablation and thermal degradation in laser-assisted transfer.
* Discover why blister-based laser transfer fails to scale down for high-density microLED wafers.
* Analyze the performance trade-offs between transfer precision, throughput speed, and residue contamination.

📋 **Clip Abstract** Gari Arutinov highlights the core physical and chemical bottlenecks of existing laser-based transfer methods, including direct ablation, thermal degradation, and blister-based approaches. He explains why these methods struggle to balance precision, speed, and debris control for high-density microLED manufacturing.

How can the printed electronics industry bridge the critical efficiency gap between spin-coated lab-scale perovskite solar cells and high-throughput roll-to-roll manufacturing?

The transition from rigid, small-scale laboratory perovskite cells to flexible, upscalable architectures reveals a significant performance disparity. While rigid lab-scale devices have rapidly achieved record power conversion efficiencies around 24%, replicating these results on flexible substrates remains a formidable challenge. This discrepancy is primarily driven by the limitations of laboratory-grade materials and solvent systems, which are optimized for static conditions rather than continuous manufacturing.

A major bottleneck in scaling flexible photovoltaics is that state-of-the-art laboratory solvent systems are fundamentally incompatible with industrial roll-to-roll processing. When scaling up rigid perovskites, power conversion efficiency drops precipitously from a peak of 26.1% down to 16%, while flexible equivalents exhibit a similar downward trajectory from approximately 25% to 18%. Beyond these dimensions, data is virtually non-existent because spin coating cannot be utilized for large-area deposition.

To establish flexible perovskites as a viable thin-film technology alongside established benchmarks like crystalline silicon and CIGS, the industry must pioneer scalable coating methods. The ultimate objective is to minimize these severe scaling losses and flatten the efficiency-to-area curve. By replacing spin coating with scalable deposition techniques, researchers aim to extend high-efficiency performance from millimeter-scale laboratory substrates to continuous, large-format flexible modules.

In this short video, you can learn:
* Why state-of-the-art laboratory solvent systems fail to translate to industrial roll-to-roll manufacturing.
* The quantitative efficiency losses observed when scaling rigid and flexible perovskite solar cells.
* The technological limitations of spin coating and the critical need for scalable deposition methods to flatten the scaling curve.

📋 **Clip Abstract** The speaker discusses the efficiency loss that occurs when scaling rigid and flexible perovskite solar cells from small lab-scale devices to larger areas. He explains that the reliance on spin coating and non-scalable solvent systems limits large-area production, highlighting the need to minimize scaling losses to compete with silicon and CIGS.

🎤 Speaker: Gari Arutinov
🏢 Company: TNO at Holst
📅 Event: The Future of Electronics RESHAPED 2023 Berlin
📍 Location: Estrel Congress Centre, Berlin, Germany, Europe

🌐 Learn more at the next TechBlick event: https://www.techblick.com

Can laser printing replace traditional micro-dispensing for ultra-fine-pitch display interconnects?

As microLEDs shrink to single-digit micron dimensions, traditional micro-dispensing and screen printing of interconnect materials reach their physical resolution limits. To solve this, Holst Centre developed a volume-controlled laser printing technology that utilizes structured carrier plates filled with conductive adhesives or solder pastes. A proprietary, laser-insensitive release layer ensures that the target materials are ejected cleanly without thermal or chemical degradation.

The system has already demonstrated non-contact, safe release of 14-micron solder paste dots. For conductive adhesives, the technology has successfully scaled down to 20-micron features, with a clear engineering roadmap to reach 5 microns in the short term. For solder paste, current capabilities sit at 40 microns with a rapid path to 20 microns.

By isolating the energy transfer to the release stack rather than the target material, the system preserves the chemistry, viscosity, and electrical performance of the adhesive or solder. This prevents the "spraying" phenomenon typical of standard laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) processes, ensuring uniform, well-defined micro-bump deposition.

In this short video, you can learn:
* The mechanics of volume-controlled laser printing for ultra-fine-pitch backplane interconnects.
* The scaling limits of current solder paste (40µm) and conductive adhesives (20µm) using this non-contact approach.
* How a laser-insensitive release layer prevents material spraying and maintains material performance.

📋 **Clip Abstract** Gari Arutinov introduces Holst Centre's innovative volume-controlled laser printing technology for depositing ultra-fine interconnects. He details how this non-contact technique scales solder paste and conductive adhesives down to micron levels without affecting material integrity.