JP2004192930A - Organic el (electro-luminescence) panel - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an organic EL (electro-luminescence) panel having a superior productivity, whose supporting substrate and a sealing member are joined with ultraviolet ray hardening adhesive without requiring complicated constructions of the organic EL panel and an exhausting apparatus, and to provide a manufacturing method therefor. <P>SOLUTION: The organic EL panel 1 has light emitting members consisting of organic EL devices 9 which are formed on the transparent glass substrate (supporting substrate) 2. The light emitting members are covered hermetically with the transparent sealing member 7 which is disposed on the glass substrate 2 via the ultraviolet ray hardening adhesive 10. A shielding member at least disposed on a facing surface of the sealing member 7 to the light emitting members, that allows irradiation of the ultraviolet ray to the adhesive 10 and shields the irradiation of the ultraviolet ray on the light emitting members. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an organic EL (electro luminescence) panel and a method of manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to an organic EL panel formed by bonding a translucent support substrate and a sealing member with an ultraviolet curable adhesive, and a method of manufacturing the same. is there.
[0002]
[Prior art]
As an organic EL panel, a transparent electrode (first electrode) serving as an anode by ITO (indium tin oxide) or the like, a hole injection layer, and a hole are formed on a glass substrate (translucent support substrate) made of a glass material. An organic EL element, which is a laminate, is formed by sequentially laminating an organic layer including a transport layer, a light emitting layer, and an electron transport layer, and a non-transparent back electrode (second electrode) such as aluminum (Al) serving as a cathode. A predetermined light emitting portion is formed by the organic EL element, and a concave sealing member made of a glass material covering the light emitting portion is hermetically disposed on the glass substrate via an ultraviolet curable adhesive. A structure having a known structure is known.
[0003]
In such an organic EL panel, the glass substrate and the sealing member are joined by the ultraviolet curable adhesive, but a dedicated mask portion is provided on the non-light emitting surface side of the organic EL panel on the sealing member side. Or by disposing an ultraviolet cut mask portion in a sealing device, which is a manufacturing device, to prevent the organic EL element from being irradiated with ultraviolet light, and to irradiate only the application portion of the adhesive with the ultraviolet light. (See Patent Document 1).
[0004]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-2001-319776
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In such an organic EL panel, the former has a problem that the configuration of the organic EL panel is complicated and the manufacturing process is complicated because the mask section is provided exclusively. Further, the latter complicates the configuration of the sealing device, and requires the replacement work of the ultraviolet cut mask unit and the periodic maintenance process of the ultraviolet cut mask unit due to the model change. There was a problem that productivity was reduced.
[0006]
Therefore, the present invention focuses on the above-described problems, and when the supporting substrate and the sealing member are joined with an ultraviolet-curable adhesive, the production of the organic EL panel and the sealing device is simplified without complicating the configuration. It is intended to provide an organic EL panel having excellent properties and a method for producing the same.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an organic EL device comprising: an anode, an organic layer having at least a light-emitting layer, and a cathode; An organic EL panel comprising a predetermined light-emitting portion, and hermetically covering the light-emitting portion with a light-transmitting sealing member provided on the support substrate via an ultraviolet-curable adhesive, A sealing member that is provided at least on a surface of the sealing member facing the light emitting unit and that is capable of irradiating the adhesive with ultraviolet light, and that includes a shielding member that prevents the light emitting unit from being irradiated with the ultraviolet light. It is.
[0008]
Further, as set forth in claim 2, an organic layer including at least a light-emitting layer at each intersection of a plurality of linear anode electrodes and cathode electrodes is selected from an organic EL element formed by being sandwiched between the anode electrodes and the cathode electrodes. An organic EL panel which constitutes a display section of the above, and hermetically covers the light emitting section with a sealing member provided on the support substrate via an ultraviolet curable adhesive, wherein the display in the sealing member is provided. A shielding member that is provided at least on a surface facing the unit and that allows irradiation of the adhesive with ultraviolet light and that blocks irradiation of the display unit with the ultraviolet light.
[0009]
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the organic EL panel according to the first or second aspect, the shielding member includes at least a solid adsorbent in an inert liquid, or includes an inert liquid. And a viscous hygroscopic member comprising a gel-like member containing a solid adsorbent.
[0010]
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a predetermined light emitting portion made of an organic EL element is formed on a light transmitting support substrate, and the light emitting portion is provided on the support substrate via an ultraviolet curable adhesive. A method for manufacturing an organic EL panel which is hermetically covered with a light-transmitting sealing member, wherein the organic EL panel is formed at least on a surface of the sealing member facing the display section, and blocks ultraviolet rays emitted from an ultraviolet irradiation device. A shielding member forming step of forming a shielding member to be applied, and applying the adhesive to a bonding portion of the sealing member with the support substrate or a bonding portion of the support substrate with the sealing member; A joining step of irradiating the ultraviolet rays from the side of the sealing member on which the shielding member is formed and curing the adhesive while overlapping the support substrate.
[0011]
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the method for manufacturing an organic EL panel according to the fourth aspect, the shielding member forming step includes at least a solid adsorbent in an inert liquid. Alternatively, the shielding member is formed by preparing a viscous hygroscopic member composed of an inert gel member containing a solid adsorbent and applying the hygroscopic member to the facing surface of the sealing member. Things.
[0012]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0013]
1 and 2, an organic EL panel 1 includes a glass substrate (supporting substrate) 2, a transparent electrode (anode electrode) 3, an insulating layer 4, an organic layer 5, a back electrode (cathode electrode) 6, It is mainly composed of a sealing member 7 and a suction member (shielding member) 8.
[0014]
The glass substrate 2 is a light-transmitting support substrate having a rectangular shape.
[0015]
The transparent electrode 3 is formed by depositing a conductive material such as ITO on the glass substrate 2 by a method such as a vapor deposition method or a sputtering method. And an electrode portion 3c provided at the end of the lead portion 3b. In addition, the electrode portion 3c is disposed intensively on one side of the glass substrate 2.
[0016]
The insulating layer 4 is made of, for example, a polyimide-based insulating material, and is formed by, for example, a photolithography method. The insulating layer 4 has a window portion 4a corresponding to the display segment portion 3a and a cutout portion 4b corresponding to an electrode portion of the back electrode 6, which will be described later. A window portion 4a is formed so as to slightly overlap with a peripheral portion of the display segment portion 3a, and is disposed so as to cover the lead portion 3b in order to secure insulation between the transparent electrode 3 and the back electrode 6. .
[0017]
The organic layer 5 may have at least a light emitting layer. In the embodiment of the present invention, the hole injection layer, the hole transport layer, the light emitting layer, and the electron transport layer are formed by a method such as an evaporation method or a sputtering method. Are sequentially laminated. The organic layer 5 is provided with a predetermined size so as to correspond to a position where the window 4 a is formed in the insulating layer 4.
[0018]
The back electrode 6 is formed of a metallic conductive material such as aluminum (Al), aluminum lithium (Al: Li), and magnesium silver (Mg: Ag) by a method such as an evaporation method or a sputtering method. It is arranged on the organic layer 5. The back electrode 6 is electrically connected to a lead portion 6a provided on one side of the glass substrate 2 so as to be adjacent to each electrode portion 3c of the transparent electrode 3. An electrode 6b is provided at the end of the lead 6a, and the lead 6a and the electrode 6b are formed of the same material as the transparent electrode 3.
[0019]
As described above, the organic EL element 9 is obtained by sequentially laminating the transparent electrode 3, the insulating layer 4, the organic layer 5, and the back electrode 6 on the glass substrate 2 to form a laminate.
[0020]
The sealing member 7 is formed by forming a concave portion 7a in a flat plate member made of, for example, a glass material, and a bonding portion 7c of the supporting portion 7b formed so as to surround the concave portion 7a with the glass substrate 2 is cured by ultraviolet rays. A predetermined amount of a mold epoxy resin adhesive (ultraviolet curable adhesive) 10 is provided, and the joining portion 7c is joined to the glass substrate 2 to hermetically seal the accommodation space 11 for accommodating the organic EL element 9. Configuration. The sealing member 7 is configured to be slightly smaller than the glass substrate 2 so that the electrode portion 3c of the transparent electrode 3 and the electrode portion 6b of the back electrode 6 are exposed to the outside.
[0021]
The moisture absorbing member 8 is disposed on the surface of the sealing member 7 facing the organic EL element 9, that is, on the bottom surface of the concave portion 7a of the sealing member 7 so as to be separated from the organic EL element 9. The adsorbing member 8 has an adsorbent (solid adsorbent) 8a of 10 μm or less that physically or chemically adsorbs water such as activated alumina, molecular sieves, calcium oxide, and barium oxide. It is a cream-like member that has a viscosity that does not cause it to stick.
[0022]
The moisture absorbing member 8 also functions as a shielding member that shields ultraviolet rays from the ultraviolet irradiation device. That is, the moisture absorbing member 8 as the shielding member covers the entire light emitting portion composed of the organic EL element 9 on the bottom surface of the concave portion 7a facing the sealing member 7, that is, reaches the side wall from the bottom surface of the concave portion 7a. It is arranged in.
[0023]
The organic EL panel 1 is configured by the above components. Next, a method for manufacturing the organic EL panel 1 will be described with reference to FIG.
[0024]
First, a transparent electrode 2, an insulating layer 4, an organic layer 5, and a back electrode 5 are sequentially formed at predetermined positions on the glass substrate 2 by an appropriate method to form an organic EL element 9 (FIG. 3A).
[0025]
Then, a predetermined amount of the adsorbent 8a is mixed into an inert liquid made of, for example, a fluorine-based oil to form the cream-shaped moisture absorbing member 8 which also serves as the above-mentioned shielding member. When the moisture absorbing member 8 is formed into a creamy shape using the fluorinated oil, the fluorinated oil and the adsorbent 8a are mixed at a mixing ratio of, for example, 80:20 wt%, so that the adsorbent 8a does not flow. Thus, a suction member 8 having the shape of a circle is obtained. As a moisture absorbing member that also serves as a shielding member other than those described above, a viscous moisture absorbing member 8 can be obtained by mixing a predetermined amount of an adsorbent 8a with an inert gel member, for example, a fluorine-based gel.
[0026]
Next, the moisture absorbing member 8 is disposed so as to reach a side wall from the bottom surface of the concave portion 7a which is the surface of the sealing member 7 facing the organic EL element 9 and has a thickness of, for example, 0.2 mm and is substantially uniform. At the same time, an adhesive 10 is provided at the joint 7c of the sealing member 7 ((FIG. 3 (b) shielding member forming step). The moisture absorbing member 8 is supplied with a predetermined amount of the moisture absorbing member 8 by a dispenser. The film is formed to have a substantially uniform film thickness using a leveling member such as a moat, etc. As a result of an experiment conducted by the inventor, transmission of light in the ultraviolet region was observed in the moisture absorbing member 8 provided with a thickness of 0.2 mm. It is not allowed.
[0027]
Then, the glass substrate 2 on which the organic EL element 9 is formed and the sealing member 7 on which the moisture absorbing member 8 is disposed are placed in a nitrogen chamber of a sealing device having an oxygen concentration of 100 ppm or less and a dew point of -70 ° C. or less. The two members 2 and 7 are overlapped with each other, and the adhesive 10 is cured by irradiating ultraviolet rays (UV) from the direction of the sealing member 7 provided with the moisture absorbing member 8 with an ultraviolet irradiation device provided in the nitrogen chamber. The two members 2 and 7 are joined (FIG. 3 (c) joining step).
[0028]
In the organic EL panel 1, the moisture absorbing member 8 having such a viscosity that the adsorbent 8 a made of a powder does not flow is provided on the surface of the sealing member 7 facing the organic EL element 9 (the concave portion formed in the sealing member 7). The bottom surface 7a) is disposed so as to cover the light emitting portion constituted by the organic EL element 9 so as to prevent the light emitting portion from being irradiated with ultraviolet rays and to allow the adhesive 10 to be irradiated with ultraviolet rays. Therefore, since the moisture absorbing member 8 which is indispensable as the organic EL panel 1 can be used as a shielding member, the panel configuration and manufacturing are compared with a conventional organic EL panel in which a shielding member (mask portion) for shielding ultraviolet rays is exclusively provided. The process can be simplified.
[0029]
Further, as described above, the manufacturing method of the organic EL panel includes a shielding member for forming a shielding member for shielding ultraviolet rays emitted from an ultraviolet irradiating device on a surface of the sealing member 7 opposed to the display unit including the organic EL element 9. In a forming step, an adhesive 10 is applied to a joint 7c of the sealing member 7 with the glass substrate 2, the sealing member 7 and the glass substrate 2 are overlapped, and the sealing member 7 on which the shielding member is formed. And irradiating the ultraviolet rays from the side to cure the adhesive 10. Therefore, since it is not necessary to provide a dedicated ultraviolet cut mask in the sealing device, it is possible to reduce the equipment cost, and to replace the ultraviolet cut mask corresponding to the model change and perform the maintenance processing of the ultraviolet cut mask. Since it is not necessary to perform the above, the productivity of the organic EL panel 1 can be improved. Further, the cost of the organic EL panel 1 can be reduced because the equipment cost is reduced and the productivity is improved.
[0030]
In the embodiment of the present invention, the moisture absorbing member 8 is also used as a shielding member. However, in the present invention, the concave portion 7b of the sealing member 7 is made of a metal film such as aluminum which can shield ultraviolet rays. The shielding member may be formed by vapor deposition of the material, and the suction member may be applied on the shielding member.
[0031]
In the embodiment of the present invention, the organic EL panel 1 having the segment display unit has been described. However, in the present invention, an anode line (anode electrode) and a cathode line (cathode electrode) arranged in a matrix are provided. An organic layer including at least a light emitting layer is sandwiched at each intersection point of the above, each intersection point is configured as a pixel, one of the anode line and the cathode line is a scanning line, the other is a drive line, the scanning line While scanning at a predetermined cycle, by connecting a drive source to a desired drive line in synchronization with the scan, the organic layer at the intersection of the scan line and the drive line emits light. A matrix type organic EL panel may be used. In such an organic EL panel, a display section constituted by pixels serving as organic EL elements is shielded from ultraviolet rays by the above-described shielding member.
[0032]
In the embodiment of the present invention, the place where the adhesive 10 is provided is the joint 7c of the sealing member 7 with the glass substrate 2. However, in the manufacturing method of the present invention, the sealing of the glass substrate 2 is performed. The adhesive 10 may be provided at the joint with the stop member 7.
[0033]
Further, in the embodiment of the present invention, the suction member 8 as the shielding member is formed so as to reach from the bottom surface of the concave portion 7a to the side wall, but in the present invention, it is constituted by the organic EL element 9. The formation range can be changed according to the level at which the display unit is not irradiated with ultraviolet rays, and it is sufficient that the formation range is at least formed at least on the surface of the sealing member 7 facing the display unit.
[0034]
【The invention's effect】
The present invention relates to an organic EL panel and a method for manufacturing the same, and in a case where a support substrate and a sealing member are joined with an ultraviolet-curable adhesive, the productivity of the organic EL panel and the sealing device is reduced without complicating the configuration. And an organic EL panel having excellent characteristics and a manufacturing method thereof can be obtained.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an organic EL panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an essential part cross-sectional view of the organic EL panel of the embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a method for manufacturing an organic EL panel of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 Organic EL panel 2 Glass substrate (supporting member)
3 Transparent electrode (anode electrode)
5 Organic layer 6 Back electrode (cathode electrode)
7 sealing member 7a recess 8 moisture absorbing member (shielding member)
8a Adsorbent

Claims (5)

A predetermined light-emitting portion is formed from an organic EL element in which an anode electrode, an organic layer having at least a light-emitting layer, and a cathode electrode are sequentially formed on a light-transmitting support substrate, and the light-emitting portion is made of an ultraviolet-curable adhesive. An organic EL panel airtightly covered by a light-transmitting sealing member disposed on the support substrate through
A light-shielding member is provided at least on a surface of the sealing member facing the light-emitting unit, and is capable of irradiating the adhesive with ultraviolet light and preventing the light-emitting unit from being irradiated with the ultraviolet light. An organic EL panel, characterized in that: An organic layer including at least a light-emitting layer at each intersection of a plurality of linear anode electrodes and cathode electrodes constitutes a predetermined display unit from an organic EL element formed by being sandwiched between the anode electrode and the cathode electrode; An organic EL panel that hermetically covers with a sealing member disposed on the supporting substrate via an ultraviolet-curable adhesive,
A shielding member is provided at least on a surface of the sealing member facing the display unit, and is capable of irradiating the adhesive with ultraviolet light, and blocking the irradiation of the display unit with the ultraviolet light. Organic EL panel characterized by the following: The shielding member is constituted by containing at least a solid adsorbent in an inert liquid, or a viscous moisture absorbing member constituted by containing a solid adsorbent in an inert gel-like member. The organic EL panel according to claim 1 or 2, wherein A predetermined light-emitting portion made of an organic EL element is formed on a light-transmitting support substrate, and the light-emitting portion is formed by a light-transmitting sealing member provided on the support substrate via an ultraviolet-curable adhesive. A method for manufacturing an organic EL panel to cover airtightly,
A shielding member forming step of forming a shielding member that is formed at least on a surface of the sealing member facing the display unit and that shields ultraviolet light emitted from an ultraviolet irradiation device;
The adhesive is applied to a joining portion of the sealing member with the support substrate or a joining portion of the support substrate with the sealing member, and the sealing member and the support substrate are overlapped, and the shielding member is A bonding step of irradiating the ultraviolet rays from the sealing member side where is formed, and curing the adhesive,
A method for manufacturing an organic EL panel, comprising: The shielding member forming step comprises preparing at least a solid adsorbent in an inert liquid or preparing a viscous hygroscopic member comprising an inert gel-like member and a solid adsorbent. 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the shielding member is formed by applying the moisture absorbing member to the facing surface of the sealing member. 6.

Images