On a seemingly unrelated front, the need frequently arises for large electronic displays - in hospital operating rooms, military command centers, industrial applications and even sports bars. Sometimes the display must also be flat. For home use, a display that mounts flat on the wall like a picture is ideal and is much sought after by technology leaders. Large CRT (cathode-ray tube) displays are available. But a 35-inch CRT display may be 30 inches deep and weigh 150 pounds. Flat-panel displays, like those in notebook computers, are also widely available. But they are typically small, since the display usually has just one panel consisting of a single, broad, light-emitting IC. Attempts to greatly increase the scale of single-IC fabrication have been accompanied by commercially unacceptable levels of defects. Interconnecting several chips introduces other problems.

The Multi-Film Venture (MFV) - a partnership between MCC and Kopin Corporation (a small company spun off in 1984 from Lincoln Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) - used ATP funding to speed by two years the development of technology to address the needs for larger flat-panel displays and for shorter IC component connectors. The new technology can be used to join several broad light-emitting ICs into a single large display with no visible seam. It can also be used to join small ICs, stacked like a deck of cards, so that wire lengths can be shortened. ATP funding made this joint venture possible, and the project's success attracted further research and development funding from outside sources.

The new technology is based on ATP-funded development of advanced methods for positioning IC components with micron-scale alignment and for connecting individual ICs, as well as new adhesives procedures for bonding chips together. It is also based on proven IC fabrication methods and proprietary thin-film-transfer technology previously developed by Kopin. MCC contributed its expertise in adhesives, bonding and positioning.

During the ATP project, MFV researchers proved the feasibility of transferring thin-film, single-crystal silicon ICs to a substrate and interconnecting them to form a functioning multifilm module (MFM). They designed, built and successfully demonstrated a large-area, flat-panel display to show seamless joining of several panels (single, broad, light-emitting ICs) arranged side by side like floor tiles, to form the display.

Giant Flat Screens and 3D Microprocessors

The earliest commercial use of the new MFM technology is likely to be in military, medical and industrial flat-panel displays and large high-resolution displays. The tiled displays would replace conventional CRT displays. When cost considerations make it profitable, they would replace large single-panel displays based on relatively expensive technologies such as liquid crystal display. The new technology also has potential applications in desktop computer displays and - with volume production and lower prices - in wall displays for the home. In addition, the ATP technology should be competitive for very high resolution screens, those with resolutions of 2,000 by 2,000 pixels per inch up to 10,000 by 10,000 pixels.

The MFM process is expected to be useful for making devices with directly joined layers of ICs that perform different functions. In one application, Kopin is collaborating with Northeastern University (using $2 million from the Office of Naval Research) to design, fabricate and demonstrate a three-dimensional (3D) microprocessor.

In a second application, Kopin is working with Northeastern and Polaroid in a five-year project, begun in June 1996, to develop a 3D computational image sensor for compact low-power video cameras. The sensor will be a stack of three chips: a sensor IC, a computation IC and a read-out IC. The chips will be connected using the ATP-funded MFM technology. This project is supported by $5 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Kopin Succeeds in Capital Markets

Although products incorporating the ATP-funded technology are not yet on the market, they are likely to arrive soon. Kopin has shown that it can carry out commercialization plans, as evidenced by its introduction of other products after more than a decade of work on the underlying technology. Also, Kopin's success at raising funds in the private-capital market reflects investor confidence in the company's ability to commercialize its technology. Kopin has raised an additional $31.8 million via private equity investments since the end of the ATP project.

When the new products - flat-panel displays and 3D microprocessors - are introduced, intermediate companies (which purchase components produced by Kopin), final-product manufacturers and consumers are expected to reap large benefits from the ATP-funded technology.

Go to other sections of Chapter 5: ELECTRONICS
	Expanding the Number of Light Signals in an Optical Fiber
	Manufacturing Technology for High-Performance Optoelectronic Devices
	Processes for Growing Large, Single Silicon Carbide Crystals
	Harnessing Cheap Diode Lasers to Power a Low-Cost Surgical Laser
	Lowering the Cost and Improving the Quality of Computer Chips
	A Gas Method to "Dry" Clean Computer-Chip Wafers
	Low-Cost Night-Vision Technology
	Large-Scale Diode-Array Laser Technology for X-Ray Lithography
	Using High-Temperature Superconductivity to Improve Cellular Phone Transmission
	Exploiting Alexandrite's Unique Properties for a Less-Expensive, More-Reliable Tunable Laser
	Precision Mirrors for Advanced Lithography
	Joining Several Chips Into One Complex Integrated Circuit
	Computer RAM Chips That Hold Memory When Power Is Off
	A Feedback-Controlled, Metallo-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition Reactor
	Flat Fluorescent Lamps for Displays