JP2007115496A - Base plate for sealing and manufacturing method of organic el panel using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a base plate for sealing, improving reliability of electric connection of an organic EL panel, enabled to simplify a manufacturing process of the organic EL panel, and a manufacturing method of the organic EL panel. <P>SOLUTION: The base plate for sealing 10 is adhered to a supporting base plate on which a plurality of organic EL elements formed by pinching an organic layer at least containing a light emission layer with a pair of electrodes are formed, and seals the organic EL elements. The base plate for sealing contains a jointing part (a second recessed part) 10b jointing individual sealing plates corresponding to individual organic EL elements, and cut off and removed after being adhered to the supporting base plate. An elastic coating layer 11 is formed on a face standing opposite to the supporting base plate at the jointing part 10b so as to be located at the cut-off position. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention uses a sealing substrate for sealing an organic EL element (organic electroluminescence element) that emits predetermined light while being sandwiched between a pair of translucent electrodes, and the sealing substrate. The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an organic EL panel.

  Conventionally, as an organic EL panel, a transparent electrode serving as an anode made of ITO (Indium Tin Oxide), a hole injection layer, a hole transport layer, a light emitting layer, and an electron transport layer is formed on a support substrate made of a glass material. An organic layer and a non-transparent back electrode such as aluminum (Al) serving as a cathode are sequentially laminated to form an organic EL element as a laminate, and a sealing member made of a glass material covering the organic EL element There is known a structure in which is disposed on a support substrate. Such an organic EL panel is disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example.

  In addition, the organic EL panel 1 has, on the support substrate, lead portions extending from the electrodes so as to electrically connect the electrodes to an external power source, and the lead portions are formed from the sealing member. It is configured to be exposed.

  As a method for manufacturing such an organic EL panel, the applicant of the present application in Patent Document 2 has a plurality of organic EL elements each having an organic layer including at least a light emitting layer sandwiched between a pair of electrodes on a translucent support substrate. An organic EL element forming step to be formed and a sealing substrate including first and second recesses corresponding to the number of the organic EL elements are prepared, and the organic EL element and the first recess face each other, The sealing substrate is disposed on the support substrate so that the lead portion electrically connected to the electrode and the second recess face each other, and the organic material that bonds the support substrate and the sealing substrate together An EL element sealing step, a first cutting step of cutting each of the supporting substrate and the sealing substrate to obtain individual organic EL panels, and a portion corresponding to the second recess to cut the lead-out portion Second cutting step to expose Proposes a method of manufacturing an organic EL panel including.

According to such a manufacturing method, compared with a method in which individual sealing members are arranged in accordance with the organic EL element, the manufacturing method such as cutting a portion corresponding to the second concave portion which is a connecting portion, It is possible to obtain the organic EL panel 1 in which the end portion of the drawer portion is exposed to the outside. In addition, since the individual organic EL panel 1 can be obtained only by a cutting process from a so-called large-size large substrate, productivity can be improved and manufacturing cost can be reduced.
JP 2001-267066 A JP 2001-297878 A

  However, in the second cutting step of cutting the second concave portion that is the connecting portion, the cutting portion of the second concave portion is a portion that is not bonded to the support substrate. Therefore, when cutting the second concave portion In particular, fine glass fragments may adhere to the lead-out portion, causing a problem in electrical connection, and there is room for improvement in terms of reliability of electrical connection of the organic EL panel. Further, although the glass fragments can be removed by a cleaning process or the like, since the cleaning process is required, the manufacturing process becomes complicated, and there is room for improvement in terms of simplification of the manufacturing process.

  Therefore, the present invention pays attention to the above-mentioned problems, improves the reliability of the electrical connection of the organic EL panel, and simplifies the manufacturing process of the organic EL panel and the organic substrate. A method for manufacturing an EL panel is provided.

  In order to solve the above problems, the sealing substrate of the present invention is bonded to a support substrate on which a plurality of organic EL elements each having an organic layer including at least a light emitting layer sandwiched between a pair of electrodes is formed. A sealing substrate for sealing an element, comprising: a connecting portion that connects each sealing substrate corresponding to each organic EL element and is cut and removed after bonding with the support substrate; A coating layer having flexibility is formed on a surface facing the support substrate so as to be positioned at least at a cutting position.

  The coating layer is made of an adhesive material.

  The connecting portion may be opposed to a lead portion formed on the support substrate and connected to the electrode.

  A first recess serving as the sealing substrate facing the organic EL element; and a second recess serving as the connecting portion facing the lead portion formed on the support substrate and connected to the electrode. It is characterized by having.

  In order to solve the above problems, an organic EL panel manufacturing method of the present invention forms an organic EL element at a plurality of locations on a support substrate by sandwiching an organic layer including at least a light emitting layer by a pair of electrodes. An element forming step and a sealing substrate formed by connecting individual sealing substrates corresponding to the respective organic EL elements so as to be connected by a connecting portion, and cutting at least a surface of the connecting portion facing the support substrate are cut. A coating layer forming step for forming a coating layer having flexibility at a location; and the sealing substrate is disposed on the support substrate so that the lead portion connected to the electrode and the connecting portion face each other. The organic EL element sealing step for bonding the support substrate and the sealing substrate, and cutting the predetermined portions of the support substrate and the sealing substrate to obtain individual organic EL panels Characterized with one cutting step, a second cutting step of exposing the cleave point corresponding to the connecting portion and the lead portion, to include at least a.

  The method for manufacturing an organic EL panel according to claim 5, wherein the coating layer is made of an adhesive material.

  The sealing substrate includes a first recess serving as the sealing substrate facing the organic EL element, and a second recess serving as the connecting portion facing the lead-out portion. And

  The present invention relates to a sealing substrate for sealing an organic EL element which is sandwiched between a pair of translucent electrodes and emits predetermined light, and a method for manufacturing an organic EL panel using the sealing substrate It is possible to improve the reliability of electrical connection of the organic EL panel and simplify the manufacturing process of the organic EL panel.

  DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the same reference numerals are assigned to the same or corresponding portions as in the conventional example, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

  In FIG. 1, the organic EL panel 1 is mainly composed of a glass substrate 2, a transparent electrode 3, an insulating layer 4, an organic layer 5, a back electrode 6 and a sealing member (sealing substrate) 7.

  The glass substrate 2 is a translucent flat plate member having a rectangular shape.

  The transparent electrode 3 is made of a conductive material such as ITO on the glass substrate 2, and is formed of a sun-shaped display segment portion 3a, a lead portion 3b formed by being drawn from each segment, and a terminal end of the lead portion 3b. And a terminal part (drawer part) 3c provided in the part. The terminal portion 3 c is intensively arranged on one side of the glass substrate 2.

  The insulating layer 4 is made of an insulating material such as polyimide, and has a window portion 4a corresponding to the display segment portion 3a and a notch portion 4b corresponding to a terminal portion described later of the back electrode 5, and has a contour of the light emitting region. In order to display the image clearly, a window portion 4a is formed so as to slightly overlap the peripheral edge portion of the display segment portion 3a of the transparent electrode 3, and a lead portion 3b is provided to ensure insulation between the transparent electrode 3 and the back electrode 6. It is arranged so as to cover the top.

  The organic layer 5 may have at least a light emitting layer, but in the embodiment of the present invention, a hole injection layer, a hole transport layer, a light emitting layer, and an electron transport layer are sequentially laminated. is there. The organic layer 5 is disposed with a predetermined size at a position where the window portion 4 a is formed in the insulating layer 4.

  The back electrode 6 is made of a non-translucent conductive material such as aluminum and is disposed 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 on which each terminal portion 3c in the transparent electrode 3 is formed. Note that a terminal portion (leading portion) 6b is provided at the end portion of the lead portion 6a, and the lead portion 6a and the terminal portion 6b are formed of the same material as the transparent electrode 3.

  The sealing member 7 has a recess-shaped storage portion 7 a for storing the organic EL element 8 including the transparent electrode 3, the insulating layer 4, the organic layer 5, and the back electrode 6, and the terminal portion 3 c of the transparent electrode 3 and It is configured to be slightly smaller than the glass substrate 2 so that the terminal portion 6b of the back electrode 5 is exposed. The sealing member 7 is hermetically disposed on the glass substrate 2 with an ultraviolet curable adhesive 9. The sealing member 7 is obtained by individually cutting a sealing substrate, which will be described in detail later. The sealing member 7 is provided with a hygroscopic agent (not shown) having a hygroscopic action for adsorbing moisture in the storage portion 7a.

  The organic EL panel 1 is configured by the above-described units.

  Next, the sealing substrate 10 will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the sealing substrate 10 is a first sealing member 7 that has a housing portion 7 a corresponding to the size of the organic EL element 8 by means such as sandblasting, cutting, and etching. The concave portion 10a and the second concave portion 10b formed by the same method as the first concave portion 10a and corresponding to the size of the region where the terminal portions 3c and 6b of the transparent electrode 3 and the back electrode 5 are formed is there. Further, the sealing substrate 10 is made of a flexible material such as an acrylic or silicone resin material on the surface facing the support substrate described later of the second recess 10b cut and removed as a connecting portion in the manufacturing process of the organic EL panel described later A coating layer 11 having a property is applied. In addition, the formation location of the coating layer 11 should just be a location corresponding to the cut location of the 2nd recessed part 10b at least. Further, it is desirable that the coating layer 11 is formed of a material having adhesiveness in addition to flexibility.

  Next, a method for manufacturing the organic EL panel 1 using the sealing substrate 10 will be described. In FIG. 3, the insulating layer 4 is omitted and not shown.

  First, the organic EL element 8 composed of the transparent electrode 3, the insulating layer 4, the organic layer 5 and the back electrode 6 is formed at a plurality of locations on the support substrate 12 serving as the glass substrate 2 by means such as sputtering or vapor deposition ( Organic EL element formation process, see FIG.

  And the sealing substrate 10 provided with the 1st, 2nd recessed part 10a, 10b is prepared, and the coating layer 11 is apply | coated and formed in the opposing surface with the support substrate 12 of the 2nd recessed part 10b (coating layer formation process) FIG. 3 (b)).

  Next, the adhesive 9 is applied to the surface of the sealing substrate 10 to be bonded to the support substrate 12, the first recess 10a corresponds to the organic EL element 8, and the second recess 10b is the terminal portion 3c, 6b. The multi-substrate having a plurality of organic EL panels 1 is obtained by bonding and fixing the sealing substrate 10 on the support substrate 12 so as to correspond to (Organic EL element sealing step, see FIG. 3C).

  Next, a cutting groove is formed between the surface of the sealing substrate 10 corresponding to the second recess 10b and the surface of the supporting substrate 12 and the sealing substrate 10 corresponding to the partition region of the organic EL panel 1 by a scriber. 13 is formed (see FIG. 3C).

  Next, in the multi-substrate, the formation positions of the cutting groove 13 located outside the second recess 10b and the cutting groove 13 corresponding to the partition region of the organic EL panel 1 are cut, and the multi-substrate 24 is separated into individual substrates. Divide into organic EL panels 1 (first cutting step, see FIG. 3D).

  The organic EL panel 1 individually divided by the first cutting step described above has a configuration in which the bottom surface portion 10c of the second recess portion 10b exists in a cantilevered state at the location where the second recess portion 10b is formed. The organic EL panel 1 in which the terminal portions 3c and 6b are exposed is obtained by cutting the formation position of the cutting groove 13 located inside the second recess 10b and removing the bottom surface portion 10c (second cutting step). FIG. 3 (e)).

  At this time, in the first and second cutting steps, when the portion corresponding to the second recess 10b of the sealing substrate 10 is cut, a flexible coating layer 11 is applied to the second recess 10b. Therefore, glass fragments generated by cutting the sealing substrate 10 are held by the coating layer 11 and can be prevented from adhering to the terminal portions 3 c and 6 b formed on the support substrate 12.

  Therefore, the manufacturing method of the sealing substrate 10 and the organic EL panel 1 using the sealing substrate 10 is the support substrate of the second recess 10b that is the connecting portion that is cut and removed after bonding to the support substrate 12. By forming the coating layer 11 having flexibility so as to be positioned at least at the cutting point on the surface facing the terminal 12, the terminal portions 3c and 6b exposed from the sealing member 7 are prevented from being connected or damaged due to glass fragments. Generation | occurrence | production can be suppressed and the reliability of the electrical connection of the organic EL panel 1 can be improved. Moreover, since the washing | cleaning process for removing a glass fragment is unnecessary, it becomes possible to simplify the manufacturing process of an organic electroluminescent panel.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, a Japanese character type display form is taken as an example. However, even a method for manufacturing an organic EL panel including a dot matrix type organic EL element is effective. The invention is not limited to the embodiment described above. Moreover, although the sealing substrate 10 has the first and second recesses 10a and 10b, the shape of the sealing substrate can be arbitrarily changed. FIG. 4 shows another example of the sealing substrate 10, in which the second concave portion 10 b is divided by a support portion 10 d extending from the surface facing the terminal portions 3 c and 6 b. . By providing the support portion 10d, it is possible to prevent the bottom surface portion 10c removed in the second cutting step from dropping on the terminal portions 3c and 6b. Further, the present invention is applicable even to a flat sealing substrate having no recess and a method for manufacturing an organic EL panel using the sealing substrate.

The perspective view which shows the organic electroluminescent panel in embodiment of this invention. Sectional drawing which shows the board | substrate for sealing in embodiment same as the above. The figure which shows the manufacturing method of the organic electroluminescent panel in embodiment same as the above. Sectional drawing which shows another example of the organic electroluminescent panel in embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Organic EL panel 2 Glass substrate 3 Transparent electrode 5 Organic layer 6 Back electrode 7 Sealing member (sealing substrate)
3c, 6b Terminal part (drawer part)
8 Organic EL element 9 Adhesive 10 Sealing substrate 10a First recess 10b Second recess (connecting portion)
11 Coating layer 12 Support substrate

Claims (7)

A sealing substrate that is bonded to a support substrate on which a plurality of organic EL elements formed by sandwiching at least an organic layer including a light emitting layer between a pair of electrodes is formed and seals the organic EL element,
Including a connecting portion that connects each sealing substrate corresponding to each organic EL element and is cut and removed after bonding to the support substrate, and is positioned at least at a cutting position on a surface of the connecting portion facing the support substrate. A sealing substrate comprising a flexible coating layer as described above. The sealing substrate according to claim 1, wherein the coating layer is made of an adhesive material. The sealing substrate according to claim 1, wherein the connecting portion is opposed to a lead portion formed on the support substrate and connected to the electrode. A first recess serving as the sealing substrate facing the organic EL element, and a second recess serving as the connecting portion facing the lead portion formed on the support substrate and connected to the electrode. The sealing substrate according to claim 1, wherein: An organic EL element forming step in which an organic EL element formed by sandwiching an organic layer including at least a light emitting layer between a pair of electrodes on a supporting substrate is formed at a plurality of locations;
A sealing substrate in which individual sealing substrates corresponding to individual organic EL elements are formed so as to be connected by a connecting portion is prepared, and flexibility is provided at least at a cutting portion of the connecting portion facing the support substrate. A coating layer forming step of forming a coating layer having,
An organic EL element in which the sealing substrate is disposed on the support substrate so that the lead portion connected to the electrode and the coupling portion face each other, and the support substrate and the sealing substrate are bonded to each other. Sealing process;
A first cutting step of cutting individual portions of the support substrate and the sealing substrate to obtain individual organic EL panels;
A method of manufacturing an organic EL panel, comprising at least a second cutting step of cutting a portion corresponding to the connecting portion to expose the lead-out portion. The method of manufacturing an organic EL panel according to claim 5, wherein the coating layer is made of an adhesive material.   The sealing substrate includes a first recess serving as the sealing substrate facing the organic EL element, and a second recess serving as the connecting portion facing the lead-out portion. The manufacturing method of the organic electroluminescent panel of Claim 5.

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