SelfArray, a startup based in New York, shared its innovative Directed Self-Assembly (DSA) technology which uses diamagnetic levitation to align LEDs automatically at Micro LEDforum 2018.

(Dr. Clinton Ballinger, CEO, SelfArray)

Clinton Ballinger, the CEO of SelfArray, introduced the patented directed self-assembly technology with a video clip showing how fast and accurate the method could be for assembling a massive amount of tiny LED dies into an array. The technology would first cover LED dies with a thin layer of pyrolytic graphite, and then place them on a vibrating magnetic stage where with the magnetic field the LEDs would quickly orient themselves into an array. The oriented LEDs can then be transferred to the final target substrate in a parallel pattern.

The technology was demonstrated with 350*350 square μm flip chip LEDs. SelfArray stated that the company is designing LEDs smaller than 150 μm for future testing. With smaller dies, the company needs to handle the pitch between magnets as if two magnets get too close the magnetic force would be influenced. According to Ballinger, once the technology of directed self-assembly becomes more mature, it would take only a few minutes to produce a 4K TV.

For commercialization, the company will first focus on large indoor displays as its technology development can assemble millions of LEDs in a short time which tackles the current bottleneck of Micro LED display production.

To collect and share more insights of Micro LED technologies, LEDinside is currently hosting the 2018 Micro LED Technology Research Contest and would like to invite companies, academic institutions and other corporate entities to submit abstracts or outlines of their latest technical papers related to innovative Micro LED technologies. For more details, please visit: LEDinside " Micro LED Technology Competition" Calls for Paper Abstracts.