JP2005310410A - Manufacturing method and device of organic electroluminescent element - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To carry out patterning to a base plate superior in the transferability of ink from a blanket to the base plate with high precision. <P>SOLUTION: This manufacturing device has an ink roll 10 in which an organic light emitting material ink is produced with a uniform film thickness, a printing plate cylinder 13 in which a printing plate 12 that is formed to correspond to a pattern of an organic light emitting layer formed on a glass base plate is mounted, an offset roll 15 covered with the blanket 14, a driving means to rotate and drive the ink roll, the printing plate cylinder and the offset roll, and a laser irradiation device 22 to irradiate a laser beam while drawing at a high speed corresponding to the pattern formed on the blanket and to heat and melt the organic light emitting material ink, at a position in which the ink is transcribed to the glass base plate from the blanket in which the pattern formed by the organic light emitting material ink is transcribed from the printing plate, and a control means to drive the driving means and to control the irradiation timing of the laser irradiation device. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for forming an image by patterning and printing ink on a glass substrate with high precision. For example, in the production of an organic electroluminescence element, an inked organic light-emitting material is applied on the glass substrate. The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for manufacturing an organic electroluminescence element that is patterned by an offset printing method.

As a method for printing ink by patterning on a glass substrate with high definition, a method by offset printing, a method by letterpress printing, a method by screen printing, or the like can be considered. Since the substrate is glass, a direct printing type printing method using a metal plate like gravure printing cannot be used, and offset printing in which ink is transferred from a soft rubber blanket to the substrate is suitable as a printing method.

On the other hand, in the production of an organic electroluminescence device, as a method of patterning an organic light emitting material with high definition, a method of patterning by a low molecular weight organic material by a mask vapor deposition method is generally used, but in this method, the substrate is large. There is a problem that the patterning accuracy is less likely to be obtained as the size is increased.

Accordingly, a method of forming a polymer organic light-emitting material into ink and patterning it by a printing method has been tried, and a method by offset printing (Patent Document 1) has been proposed.
JP 2001-93668 A

However, in the offset printing, the drying of the ink proceeds on the blanket, and the adhesion strength of the ink to the blanket increases, so when the ink is retransferred from the blanket onto the substrate constituting the organic electroluminescence element, There was a problem in that ink contact occurred between the blanket surface and the substrate, making it difficult to stably transfer the ink onto the substrate.

In offset printing, there is an opportunity to require patterning accuracy twice when transferring ink from a printing plate to a blanket and when transferring ink from a blanket to a substrate, and there is a problem that high-precision patterning is difficult. It was.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and has good ink transfer from a blanket to a substrate constituting an organic electroluminescence element, and can perform patterning on the substrate with high accuracy. An object of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for producing an organic electroluminescent element.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention described in claim 1 is a method of manufacturing an organic electroluminescence element, wherein at least an organic light emitting layer constituting the organic electroluminescence element is formed on a substrate by an offset printing method, When transferring the organic light emitting material ink applied on the blanket coated on the roll to the substrate, the ink to be transferred is heated and melted by a heating means.

  The invention according to claim 2 is the method for producing an organic electroluminescence element according to claim 1, wherein at least the organic light emitting layer constituting the troluminescence element is formed on the substrate by an offset printing method. A method for manufacturing an element, wherein the printing plate formed so as to correspond to the pattern of the organic light emitting layer to be formed on the substrate is patterned from the printing plate to a blanket covered with an offset roll. The ink is applied, and at the position where the ink is transferred from the blanket to the substrate, the laser is irradiated with a laser beam at a high speed according to the pattern formed on the blanket, and the ink is heated. -Melting into the substrate from the blanket And performing transfer of.

  The invention according to claim 3 is a method of manufacturing an organic electroluminescent element in which at least an organic light emitting layer constituting the organic electroluminescent element is formed on a substrate by an offset printing method, and is covered with an offset roll. The organic light emitting material ink applied on the blanket is transferred to the substrate while patterning by irradiating laser light with a laser irradiation device.

The invention according to claim 4 is a method for manufacturing an organic electroluminescent element in which at least an organic light emitting layer constituting the organic electroluminescent element is formed on a substrate by an offset printing method, wherein the printing plate is mounted. The organic light emitting material ink is uniformly applied over the entire surface of the printing cylinder from the printing plate to the blanket coated with the offset roll, and the organic light emitting material ink is applied to the substrate from the blanket coated with the organic light emitting material ink uniformly over the entire surface. The organic light emitting material ink is heated and melted by irradiating with high speed drawing with a laser beam in accordance with a pattern to be imaged on the blanket by a laser irradiation device at a position to transfer the organic light from the blanket to the substrate. The material ink is transferred.

  The invention according to claim 5 is the method for producing an organic electroluminescence device according to claim 4, wherein the organic light emitting material ink is uniformly applied to the entire surface of the blanket covered with the offset roll from the printing plate. Then, the organic light emitting material ink is dried on the blanket by a drying means.

  The invention according to claim 6 is an apparatus for manufacturing an organic electroluminescent element in which at least an organic light emitting layer constituting the organic electroluminescent element is formed on a substrate by an offset printing method, and the roll surface is formed by an ink supply means. An ink roll in which the organic light emitting material ink supplied to the substrate is formed with a uniform film thickness, and a printing plate formed so as to correspond to the pattern of the organic light emitting layer formed on the substrate are mounted, and the ink roll A plate cylinder disposed in the vicinity of the plate cylinder, an offset roll disposed in the vicinity of the plate cylinder and covered with a blanket, a driving unit that rotationally drives the ink roll, the plate cylinder, and the offset roll, and the driving unit With the rotation of the ink roll, plate cylinder and offset roll by the organic light emission from the printing plate The organic light-emitting material ink is heated by irradiating a laser beam at a position where the ink is transferred to the substrate from the blanket on which the pattern is transferred to the substrate while drawing at high speed according to the pattern formed on the blanket. -It has the laser irradiation means to fuse | melt, and the control means which drives and controls the said drive means and controls the irradiation timing of the said laser irradiation means, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.

The invention according to claim 7 is an apparatus for manufacturing an organic electroluminescent element in which at least an organic light emitting layer constituting the organic electroluminescent element is formed on a glass substrate by an offset printing method, and is rolled by an ink supply means. An ink roll in which the organic light emitting material ink supplied to the surface is formed with a uniform film thickness and a printing plate capable of forming a uniform solid layer of the ink on a blanket are mounted and arranged close to the ink roll. A printing cylinder, an offset roll disposed in the vicinity of the printing cylinder and covered with a blanket, a driving means for rotationally driving the ink roll, the printing cylinder and the offset roll, and the ink roll and printing plate by the driving means With the rotation of the cylinder and the offset roll, the organic light emitting material ink is entirely applied from the printing plate. Laser irradiation that heats and melts the organic light-emitting material ink by irradiating laser light with high-speed drawing according to the pattern formed on the substrate at a position where the ink is transferred from the uniformly transferred blanket to the substrate. Means,
And a control unit that controls the driving of the driving unit and controls the irradiation timing of the laser irradiation unit.

  The invention according to claim 8 is the organic electroluminescence device manufacturing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the organic light-emitting material ink is further uniformly applied over the entire surface from the printing plate to the blanket covered with the offset roll. After the coating, the organic light emitting material ink is dried on the blanket.

As described above, according to the present invention, when forming at least the organic light emitting layer constituting the organic electroluminescence element on the glass substrate by the offset printing method, the organic material applied on the blanket covered with the offset roll is applied. When transferring the luminescent material ink from the blanket to the glass substrate, the laser irradiation device irradiates it while drawing at high speed according to the ink pattern on the blanket with the laser beam, so the ink transfer from the blanket to the glass substrate Can be kept good.

  Further, according to the present invention, when forming at least the organic light emitting layer constituting the organic electroluminescence element on the glass substrate by the offset printing method, the organic light emitting material ink applied on the blanket covered with the offset roll is used. Since the transfer to the glass substrate is performed while patterning by irradiating a laser beam with a laser irradiation device, the ink transferability is improved and the pattern formation depends only on the pattern accuracy by laser drawing. The accuracy can be improved.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The structure of the manufacturing apparatus of the organic electroluminescent element which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention is shown in FIG. An apparatus for manufacturing an organic electroluminescence element according to this embodiment is an apparatus for manufacturing an organic electroluminescence element that forms at least an organic light emitting layer constituting an organic electroluminescence element on a glass substrate by an offset printing method. An offset printing press is included.

  In FIG. 1, an organic electroluminescent element manufacturing apparatus according to this embodiment includes an ink roll 10 in which the organic light emitting material ink 11 supplied to the roll surface by an ink supply means (not shown) is formed with a uniform film thickness. A printing plate 12 formed so as to correspond to the pattern of the organic light emitting layer formed on the glass substrate constituting the organic electroluminescence element, and a plate cylinder 13 disposed close to the ink roll 10; An offset roll 15 is disposed near the plate cylinder 13 and is covered with a blanket 14.

In the present embodiment, the printing plate 12 mounted on the plate cylinder 13 is formed with a pattern of image areas and non-image areas so that the plate forms a printed image with stripes having a line width of 100 μm and a pitch of 150 μm. A flat plate without water was used. This printing plate is made by, for example, laser light so as to correspond to the pattern of the organic light emitting layer formed on the glass substrate 20.
On the flat table 18, the glass substrate 20 constituting the organic electroluminescence element is transported to a transfer position of the organic light emitting material ink by the blanket 14 by transport means (not shown).

The apparatus for manufacturing an organic electroluminescence element according to the present embodiment further heats and melts the organic light emitting material ink and driving means (not shown) for rotationally driving the ink roll 10, the plate cylinder 13 and the offset roll 15. And a laser irradiation device 22.
The driving means includes, for example, a driving mechanism such as a gear mechanism and a motor.

The laser irradiation device 22 heats and melts the organic light emitting material ink by irradiating the pattern 16 made of the organic light emitting material ink formed on the blanket 14 at a transfer position on the glass substrate 20 while drawing at high speed according to the pattern. It has a function to make it. The laser to be irradiated may be any laser that can be melted and heated to such an extent that ink transferability is improved, and is not particularly limited, but a YAG laser is used in each embodiment of the present invention.

In the present embodiment, the laser light is configured to be irradiated from above the glass substrate 20. However, the installation position of the laser irradiation device 22 may be anywhere as long as the laser beam can be irradiated from above the glass substrate 20 via an optical system or the like.

Although not shown, the organic electroluminescence device manufacturing apparatus according to the present embodiment drives and controls the driving unit and heats the laser irradiation device 22 as a heating unit that heats the organic light emitting material ink. That is, it has a control part which controls the irradiation timing of a laser beam. This control unit corresponds to the control means of the present invention.

Further, the laser irradiation device 22 is installed, for example, above the flat table 20, and on the side of the laser irradiation device 22 where the laser beam is output, in the direction parallel to the axial direction of the offset roll 15 in FIG. An optical system (not shown) including a polygon mirror for scanning with laser light is provided.

As the organic light emitting material ink, a solution obtained by dissolving a polyphenylene vinylene derivative, which is a polymeric fluorescent substance, in toluene was used.
As the glass substrate 24 that is the printing object, holes are formed on the glass substrate on which an indium-tin oxide (ITO) film that is a transparent electrode is patterned according to the pixel of the organic electroluminescence element. A substrate having a transport layer coated on the entire surface was used.
As the hole transport material, a polymer material composed of a polythiophene derivative and polystyrene sulfonic acid was used.

  In the above configuration, when the ink roll 10, the plate cylinder 18 on which the printing plate 12 is mounted, and the offset roll 15 are driven to rotate by a driving unit (not shown), first, an ink supply unit (not shown) is provided on the ink roll 10. Thus, the organic light emitting material ink is formed on the roll surface with a uniform film thickness, and the organic light emitting material ink on the ink roll 10 is transferred to the pattern formed on the printing plate 12 mounted on the plate cylinder 13. Further, the organic light emitting material ink transferred onto the printing plate 12 is transferred in a state of being patterned on the blanket 14 covered with the offset roller.

On the other hand, when the glass substrate 20 as a printing medium is transported to the transfer position on the flat table 18 by a transport means (not shown), and the pattern of the organic light emitting layer is transferred by the blanket 14 to which the organic light emitting material ink has been transferred, That is, at a position where the ink is transferred from the blanket 14 to which the pattern 16 made of the organic light emitting material ink has been transferred to the glass substrate 20, laser light is drawn at high speed in accordance with the pattern 16 formed on the blanket by the laser irradiation device 22. As a result, the organic light emitting material ink is heated and melted, and comes into contact with the glass substrate 20 in this state, so that the pattern of the organic light emitting layer is transferred to the glass substrate 20. Thus, the pixel of the organic electroluminescent element containing an organic light emitting layer on the ballast substrate 20 was formed.

  FIG. 2 shows that when the pattern 16 formed of the organic light emitting material ink is transferred from the transferred blanket 14 to the glass substrate 20, the organic light emitting material ink is heated and melted by irradiation with laser light, and the glass substrate 20 is heated. Fig. 5 shows a state where the pattern of the organic light emitting layer is transferred. In FIG. 2, the arrow A indicates that the pattern 16 formed of the organic light emitting material ink transferred to the blanket 14 when the laser light is irradiated from the lateral direction on the glass substrate 20 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is heated.・ It shows a melted state.

Moreover, the arrow B has shown the example which irradiates an organic luminescent material ink with the laser beam from the downward direction of the glass substrate 20. FIG. FIG. 3 shows the configuration of the organic electroluminescence element manufacturing apparatus in this case.
1 is different from the organic electroluminescence element manufacturing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 in that the organic light emitting material ink is obtained by transferring laser light emitted from the laser irradiation apparatus 22 from below the glass substrate 24 on the flat table 20 to the blanket 14. Since the other structure is the same as that of the manufacturing apparatus shown in FIG. 1, the overlapping description is omitted.

  Next, the structure of the manufacturing apparatus of an organic electroluminescent element in 2nd Embodiment of this invention is shown in FIG. The manufacturing apparatus of the organic electroluminescence element according to the second embodiment of the present invention differs from the manufacturing apparatus according to the first embodiment in that the printing plate 30 mounted on the plate cylinder 13 is solid on the blanket 14. The organic light-emitting material ink 11 is uniformly transferred from the printing plate 30 to the entire surface. At the position where the ink is transferred from the blanket 14 to the glass substrate 20, the laser irradiation device 22 irradiates the organic light emitting material ink by irradiating the laser beam while drawing at high speed according to the pattern formed on the glass substrate 20. Since the other configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment, a duplicate description is omitted. In FIG. 4, 34 is a pattern formed by the organic light emitting material ink transferred to the glass substrate 20.

In the present embodiment, the laser beam is irradiated to the ink transferred onto the blanket 14 by the laser irradiation device 22 immediately before the transfer position to the glass substrate 20. At this time, the stripe having a line width of 100 μm and a pitch of 150 μm is used. In this manner, laser-assisted offset printing was performed by patterning so as to form a printed image and irradiating with a laser to form a pixel including a light emitting layer of an organic electroluminescence element on the glass substrate 20.

  FIG. 5 shows that when the pattern 16 formed of the organic light emitting material ink is transferred from the transferred blanket 14 to the glass substrate 20, the organic light emitting material ink is heated and melted by laser light irradiation, and the glass substrate 20 is heated. Fig. 5 shows a state where the pattern of the organic light emitting layer is transferred. In FIG. 5, an arrow C indicates that the pattern 34 formed of the organic light emitting material ink transferred to the blanket 14 when the laser beam is irradiated from the lateral direction on the glass substrate 20 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4 is heated.・ It shows a melted state.

An arrow D shows an example in which the organic light emitting material ink is irradiated with laser light from below the glass substrate 20. In this case, the structure of the organic electroluminescence element manufacturing apparatus is different only in the irradiation direction of the laser irradiation apparatus 22, and the structure of the grave is the same as the structure shown in FIG. .

Next, a comparative example for the embodiment of the present invention will be described.
[Comparative example]
The plate uses a waterless lithographic plate with a pattern of image areas and non-image areas formed so as to form a stripe printed image with a line width of 100 μm and a pitch of 150 μm, and the printed image pattern is transferred onto the blanket. Ordinary offset printing in which the applied ink was directly transferred onto the substrate was performed, and pixels of the organic electroluminescence element were formed on the substrate.

As a result of evaluating the transferability at the time of printing in the manufacturing apparatus and method according to each of the embodiments and the comparative example, in the comparative example, the ink is brought into contact with the rubber blanket and the glass substrate. Occurred, and a part that did not move and a part that did not. That is, the metastasis was poor.
On the other hand, in the first embodiment and the second embodiment, the pixel pattern is almost completely formed and the pixel pattern is cleanly formed.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, when forming at least the organic light emitting layer constituting the organic electroluminescence element on the glass substrate by the offset printing method, the blanket covered with the offset roll is used. When the organic light emitting material ink applied on the glass substrate is transferred from the blanket to the glass substrate, the laser irradiation device is irradiated with the laser beam while drawing at high speed according to the ink pattern on the blanket. The transfer property of the ink to can be kept good.

  According to the second embodiment of the present invention, when forming at least the organic light emitting layer constituting the organic electroluminescence element on the glass substrate by the offset printing method, the organic light emission applied on the blanket covered with the offset roll. Since the material ink is transferred to the glass substrate while patterning by irradiating laser light with a laser irradiation device, the transferability of the ink is improved and the pattern formation depends only on the pattern accuracy by laser drawing. Therefore, the patterning accuracy can be improved.

The figure which shows the structure of the manufacturing apparatus of the organic electroluminescent element which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. Explanatory drawing which shows the state by which the pattern by organic luminescent material ink is transcribe | transferred from the blanket which organic luminescent material ink transferred in the manufacturing apparatus of the organic electroluminescent element which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention to a glass substrate. The figure which shows the other structural example of the manufacturing apparatus of the organic electroluminescent element which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the structure of the manufacturing apparatus of the organic electroluminescent element which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. Explanatory drawing which shows the state by which the pattern by organic luminescent material ink is transcribe | transferred to the glass substrate from the blanket which organic luminescent material ink transferred in the manufacturing apparatus of the organic electroluminescent element which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Ink roll 12 ... Printing plate 13 ... Plate cylinder 14 ... Blanket 15 ... Offset roll 16 ... Pattern 18 ... Flat stand 20 ... Glass substrate 22 ... Laser irradiation apparatus

Claims (8)

An organic electroluminescent element manufacturing method for forming at least an organic light emitting layer constituting an organic electroluminescent element on a substrate by an offset printing method,
A method for producing an organic electroluminescence device, comprising: heating and melting the ink to be transferred when the organic light emitting material ink applied on the blanket covered with the offset roll is transferred to the substrate. An organic electroluminescent element manufacturing method for forming at least an organic light emitting layer constituting an organic electroluminescent element on a substrate by an offset printing method,
A printing plate formed so as to correspond to the pattern of the organic light-emitting layer formed on the substrate is coated with an ink by patterning from the printing plate to a blanket covered with an offset roll in a plate cylinder mounted. In the position where the ink is transferred from the blanket to the substrate, a laser irradiation device irradiates the laser light while drawing at high speed according to the pattern formed on the blanket to heat and melt the ink from the blanket. The method for producing an organic electroluminescent element according to claim 1, wherein the ink is transferred to a glass substrate. An organic electroluminescent element manufacturing method for forming at least an organic light emitting layer constituting an organic electroluminescent element on a substrate by an offset printing method,
A method for producing an organic electroluminescence device, comprising transferring an organic light emitting material ink applied on a blanket covered with an offset roll to the substrate while patterning by irradiating a laser beam with a laser irradiation device. An organic electroluminescent element manufacturing method for forming at least an organic light emitting layer constituting an organic electroluminescent element on a substrate by an offset printing method,
From the printing plate in the plate cylinder on which the printing plate is mounted, to the blanket covered with the offset roll, the organic light emitting material ink is uniformly applied to the entire surface, and the entire surface is uniformly coated with the organic light emitting material ink from the blanket. At the position where the organic light emitting material ink is transferred to the substrate,
The organic light emitting material ink is transferred from the blanket to the substrate by heating and melting the organic light emitting material ink by irradiating with high speed drawing with laser light according to the pattern to be imaged on the blanket by the laser irradiation device. The manufacturing method of the organic electroluminescent element characterized by the above-mentioned. 5. The organic light emitting material ink is dried on the blanket by a drying unit after uniformly applying the organic light emitting material ink on the blanket coated on the offset roll from the printing plate. The manufacturing method of the organic electroluminescent element of description. An organic electroluminescence device manufacturing apparatus for forming at least an organic light emitting layer constituting an organic electroluminescence device on a substrate by an offset printing method,
An ink roll in which the organic light-emitting material ink supplied to the roll surface by the ink supply means is formed with a uniform film thickness;
A printing plate formed so as to correspond to the pattern of the organic light emitting layer to be formed on the substrate is mounted, and a plate cylinder disposed close to the ink roll;
An offset roll disposed adjacent to the plate cylinder and covered with a blanket;
Drive means for rotationally driving the ink roll, plate cylinder and offset roll;
As the ink roll, plate cylinder and offset roll are rotated by the driving means, a laser beam is emitted at a position where the ink is transferred from the printing plate to the substrate from the blanket onto which the pattern of the organic light emitting material ink has been transferred. Laser irradiation means for heating and melting the organic light emitting material ink by irradiating while drawing at high speed according to the pattern formed on the blanket;
Control means for driving the drive means and controlling the irradiation timing of the laser irradiation means;
An apparatus for manufacturing an organic electroluminescence element, comprising: An organic electroluminescent element manufacturing apparatus for forming at least an organic light emitting layer constituting an organic electroluminescent element on a substrate by an offset printing method,
An ink roll in which the organic light-emitting material ink supplied to the roll surface by the ink supply means is formed with a uniform film thickness;
A printing plate capable of forming a uniform layer of the entire surface of the ink on the blanket is mounted, and a plate cylinder disposed close to the ink roll;
An offset roll disposed adjacent to the plate cylinder and covered with a blanket;
Drive means for rotationally driving the ink roll, plate cylinder and offset roll;
At the position where the ink is transferred to the substrate from the blanket in which the organic light emitting material ink is uniformly transferred from the printing plate to the entire surface along with the rotation of the ink roll, the plate cylinder and the offset roll by the driving means, the laser beam Laser irradiation means for heating and melting the organic light-emitting material ink by irradiating while drawing at high speed according to the pattern formed on the substrate,
Control means for driving the drive means and controlling the irradiation timing of the laser irradiation means;
The manufacturing apparatus of the organic electroluminescent element characterized by having. Furthermore, after the organic luminescent material ink is uniformly applied over the entire surface of the blanket covered with the offset roll from the printing plate, the organic luminescent material ink is dried on the blanket. The manufacturing apparatus of the organic electroluminescent element of Claim 7.

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