KR100354320B1 - Organic electroluminescence device and method for fabricating thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an organic electroluminescent device in which an organic electroluminescent device is assembled to a base substrate made of a synthetic resin, and a method of manufacturing the same. According to the present invention, an organic electroluminescent device is formed on a base substrate to enable display. It prevents the breakage of the organic electroluminescent device as well as significantly reducing the weight and volume of the organic electroluminescent device.

Description

Organic electroluminescent device and manufacturing method thereof

The present invention relates to an organic electroluminescent device and a method of manufacturing the same, and more particularly to an organic electroluminescent device and a method of manufacturing the organic electroluminescent device is assembled to a base substrate made of a synthetic resin material.

Recently, with the development of a high-performance information processing device that processes a large amount of information within a unit time, a kind of interface device that connects the information processing device and the user so that the user can recognize the result of the electrical signal processed inside the information processing device. Development of the in-display device is also steadily progressing.

Such display devices may be broadly classified into CRT-type display devices, liquid crystal display devices, organic electroluminescence devices, and the like according to their types.

Among them, the organic electroluminescent device requires a light supply device called a "backlight assembly" by using liquid crystal, which is a passive element, and also has a faster response speed and higher brightness than a liquid crystal display device having a highly precise driving and complicated manufacturing method. It is attracting attention as a next generation display device by having simple structural characteristics, low production cost characteristics, low weight and small volume characteristics, and the like.

The simplest structure for implementing an organic electroluminescent device having such various advantages is an anode electrode formed on a transparent glass substrate, an organic electroluminescent thin film layer formed on the upper surface of the anode electrode, and formed on the upper surface of the organic electroluminescent thin film layer. It consists of a cathode electrode which is one electrode.

In this case, when a forward current is applied from the anode electrode to the cathode electrode, light having a predetermined wavelength is generated in the organic electroluminescent thin film layer through a series of processes such as a combination of electrons and holes, and is generated in the organic electroluminescent thin film layer. The light is emitted to the outside through the anode electrode and the transparent substrate and then incident to the user's eyes so that the user can recognize the light.

In order to implement such a light emitting mechanism, the anode electrode must use a light transmissive electrode. For example, the anode electrode has higher electrical resistance than metal but is conductive and has a higher transparency than metal. Indium Tin Oxide A substance called is used.

However, since the indium tin oxide material is formed in a high temperature atmosphere, in order to use such an indium tin oxide material as an anode electrode, a transparent substrate having no shape change and molecular structure deformation does not occur even at an indium tin oxide formation temperature. For this reason, a transparent substrate is used as a glass substrate in which deformation does not occur even at an indium tin oxide formation temperature.

However, the glass substrate is amorphous and the edge cracks formed at the edges of the glass substrate have a serious defect in which breakage occurs frequently due to very weak propagation or brittleness to the active area where actual display is performed even by a small external impact. There is a fatal problem as a portable display device by acting as a main cause of weight and volume increase of the light emitting device.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of such a conventional problem, and an object of the present invention is to allow an organic electroluminescent element comprising a transparent electrode which is a component of an organic electroluminescent device to be formed on a base substrate made of a synthetic resin material.

Other objects of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the invention.

1 to 3 is a perspective view showing an intermediate substrate according to the present invention.

4 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a process of manufacturing the intermediate substrate of FIGS. 1 to 3.

5 is a side view showing the intermediate substrate manufactured by FIG.

6 is a conceptual diagram showing the relationship of the intermediate substrate according to FIGS.

7 is a conceptual diagram illustrating that a sacrificial thin film layer is formed on a red medium substrate according to the present invention.

8 is a conceptual view illustrating that an indium tin oxide thin film is formed on an upper surface of the sacrificial thin film layer of FIG. 7.

9 is a perspective view illustrating the patterning of the indium tin oxide thin film of FIG. 8; FIG.

FIG. 10 is a conceptual view illustrating that an organic electroluminescent layer is formed on an upper surface of an indium tin oxide thin film patterned in FIG. 9. FIG.

FIG. 11 is a conceptual diagram illustrating that a metal layer is formed on an upper surface of the organic electroluminescent layer illustrated in FIG. 10.

12 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a process of aligning and bonding FIG. 11 to a base substrate.

13 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a process of etching a sacrificial thin film layer.

14 is an external perspective view showing the layout of the base substrate;

15 is a conceptual diagram illustrating the formation of a sacrificial thin film layer, a patterned indium tin oxide thin film, an organic electroluminescent layer, and a metal layer on a blue medium substrate according to the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an alignment relationship between FIG. 15 and a base substrate. FIG.

FIG. 17 is a conceptual view illustrating the formation of a sacrificial thin film layer, a patterned indium tin oxide thin film, an organic electroluminescent layer, and a metal layer on a green medium substrate according to the present invention. FIG.

FIG. 18 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an alignment relationship between FIG. 17 and the base substrate. FIG.

19 is a perspective view illustrating that all of red, blue, and green organic light emitting diode groups are formed on a base substrate.

20 is a perspective view illustrating that a cathode electrode is formed in FIG.

The organic electroluminescent device according to the present invention for realizing the object of the present invention is a base substrate of a synthetic resin material having a predetermined area, the bonding means formed on the base substrate, and at least one or more bonded to the bonding means in a parallel manner A group of organic electroluminescent elements comprising a long rod-shaped first electrode, an organic electroluminescent means formed on an upper surface of the first electrode, and at least one second electrode formed on the upper surface of the organic electroluminescent means; And an interconnection electrode for electrically connecting second electrodes belonging to the same column of the second electrodes of the group of organic electroluminescent devices arranged in a parallel manner.

In addition, in order to realize the object of the present invention, in the method for manufacturing an organic electroluminescent device on the upper surface of the base material of the synthetic resin material formed with the first electrode lead region, the second electrode lead region and the active region, Organic comprising at least one first electrode formed on the upper surface of the substrate in a first direction in a parallel manner, an organic electroluminescent layer formed on the upper surface of the first electrode, and at least one second electrode formed on the upper surface of the organic electroluminescent layer Forming electroluminescent device groups, adhering the organic electroluminescent device groups to the active region of the base substrate, etching the sacrificial thin film layer to separate the intermediate substrate and the organic electroluminescent device group, Connecting a second electrode belonging to the same row with a conductive member, and connecting the first electrode to the first electrode lead Connected to a first lead electrode formed on the station and, a second lead electrode formed on the second electrode lead-in area includes the step of connecting the conductive member.

Hereinafter, an organic electroluminescent device and a method of manufacturing the organic electroluminescent device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, referring to the attached FIGS. 19 and 20, the configuration of the organic electroluminescent device according to the present invention will be described.

The organic electroluminescent device 900 according to the present invention is generally composed of a base substrate 100, an adhesive layer 200, and an organic electroluminescent device group 300, 400, 500; 600 of a synthetic resin material.

Specifically, the base substrate 100 is divided into three regions, and the region indicated by reference numeral A is an active region in which an actual image is displayed by installing the organic electroluminescent element group 600 to be described later in detail. The region indicated by reference numeral B is an anode lead region in which an anode electrode lead 110 is formed to apply a first signal to the organic electroluminescent element group 600 formed in the active region, and the region indicated by reference numeral C. FIG. The cathode electrode lead region in which the cathode electrode lead 120 for applying the second signal to the organic electroluminescent element group 600 formed in the active region is formed.

Meanwhile, the adhesive layer 200 briefly introduced above is formed or installed in the active region formed on the base substrate 100 on which the anode electrode leads and the cathode electrode leads 110 and 120 are formed. Specifically, the adhesive layer 200 is active It may be formed or installed over, or partially formed over, the entire interior area of the region.

As the adhesive layer 200, a liquid adhesive material or a double-sided adhesive tape may be used.

The organic electroluminescent device group 600 according to the present invention is formed in the active region of the base substrate 100 having such a configuration.

In the organic electroluminescent device group 600 according to the present invention, when the X-axis direction defined in FIG. 19 is defined as a row, and the Y-axis direction is defined as a column, the organic electroluminescent device group 600 is one. In an embodiment the plurality is implemented by arranging in a parallel manner.

In the present invention, only a few organic electroluminescent device groups 600 are illustrated and described for convenience of description, but in actual high resolution display products, the number of horizontal resolutions should be formed.

More specifically, the unit organic electroluminescent device groups 300, 400, and 500 belonging to the organic electroluminescent device group 600 may have the lengths of the anode electrodes 310, 320, 330, and the anode electrodes 310, 410, and 510 of the active region, respectively. The organic electroluminescent layers 320, 420, 520 formed in a predetermined thickness over the entire surface of the upper surface, the cathode electrodes 330, 430, 430, and the interconnection electrode, in which a plurality of organic electroluminescent layers 320, 420, 520 are arranged in the X-axis direction, and in one embodiment, six electrode; 750.

In this case, the interconnection electrode 750 commonly belongs to any column of the plurality of cathode electrodes 330, 430, 530 belonging to the unit organic electroluminescent device group 300, 400, 500, but is insulated from each other. By allowing all of them to be in electrical communication, the signal applied from the cathode electrode lead 120 can be commonly applied to the cathode electrodes 330, 430, and 530 belonging to each row, which is an organic electroluminescent device according to the present invention. Is essential in driving the line drive method.

In the organic electroluminescent device 900 according to the present invention, since the substrate on which the unit organic electroluminescent device groups 300, 400, and 500 are formed is a synthetic resin material, the organic electroluminescent device 900 is not easily broken by an external impact, as well as the thickness of the organic electroluminescent device. Not only can be formed very thin, but can also be implemented very light weight.

Hereinafter, the unit organic electroluminescent device groups 300, 400, and 500 will be defined as red organic electroluminescent device groups 300, blue organic electroluminescent device groups 400, and green organic electroluminescent device groups 500, respectively.

Hereinafter, a method of manufacturing an organic electroluminescent device according to the present invention having such a configuration will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, a manufacturing method of the base substrate 100, which is one of the components of the organic electroluminescent device according to the present invention, will be described with reference to FIG.

As described above, the base substrate 100 is a synthetic resin material having a predetermined melting temperature. The base substrate 100 is manufactured in a shape of a thin rectangular parallelepiped plate by various processing methods. The base substrate 100 includes an active region shown by reference numeral A, An anode electrode lead region shown by reference B and a cathode electrode lead region shown by reference C are formed virtually.

The anode electrode lead 110 of a metal material extending in the X-axis direction is formed in the anode electrode lead region, and the cathode electrode lead 120 having a direction orthogonal to the anode electrode lead 110 is formed in the cathode electrode lead region. do.

On the other hand, the active region is divided into a plurality of regions in the width direction again, the element attach region 140 is formed.

According to the present invention, the device attach regions 140 are divided into six as an example. Each of the device attach regions 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, and 146 divided into six groups includes the red organic electroluminescent element group 300 and the blue organic field described above. The light emitting device group 400 and the green organic light emitting device group 500 are formed in a designated pattern.

In the present invention, the red organic electroluminescent device group 300-the blue organic electroluminescent device group 400-the green organic electroluminescent device group 500 are repeated in a bundle in the device attach region 140. It is formed in a pattern that becomes.

Specifically, the red organic electroluminescent device group 300 is formed in the element attach regions 141 and 144 corresponding to the first and fourth regions divided into six, so that the regions 141 and 144 are referred to as the red element attach regions. In the device attach regions 142 and 145 corresponding to the second region and the fifth region, a blue organic electroluminescent element group 400 is formed, and thus, the regions 142 and 145 are defined as the blue device attach region. In the device attach regions 143 and 146 corresponding to the third region and the sixth region, the green organic electroluminescent element group 500 is formed, and thus, the regions 143 and 146 are defined as the green element attach regions.

In the present invention, in order to form the red organic electroluminescent device group 300, the blue organic electroluminescent device group 400, and the green organic electroluminescent device group 500 in the active region formed on the base substrate 100 in this manner. Intermediate substrates are used.

The intermediate substrate may be a red intermediate substrate on which the red organic electroluminescent element group 300 is formed, a blue intermediate substrate on which the blue organic electroluminescent element group 400 is formed, and a green intermediate substrate on which the green organic electroluminescent element group 500 is formed. It is composed.

This red intermediate substrate is shown in FIG. 1, indicated by reference numeral 610, the blue intermediate substrate is indicated in FIG. 2, indicated by reference numeral 620, and the green intermediate substrate is shown in FIG. 3. Reference numeral 630 will be given.

More specifically, the red intermediate substrate 610 illustrated in FIG. 1 is a substrate having the same area as the active region formed in the base substrate 100, and the red element attach regions 141 and 143 defined above among the substrates. Except for the part corresponding to, the remaining area is etched and removed.

The blue intermediate substrate 620 is also a substrate having the same area as the active region formed on the base substrate 100, and the remaining regions except for the portions corresponding to the previously defined blue element attach regions 142 and 144 are etched and removed. It will have the shape of FIG.

In addition, the green medium substrate 630 is a substrate having the same area as the active region formed on the base substrate 100, and the remaining regions except for the portions corresponding to the green element attach regions 143 and 146 defined above are etched. By removing it, it has the shape of FIG.

Meanwhile, a method of forming the red, blue, and green median substrates 610, 620, and 630 is illustrated in the accompanying FIGS. 4 to 5, and in the present invention, a method of forming the red median substrate 610 will be described. Bar, the method of forming the remaining blue media substrate 620 and the green media substrate 630 is the same as the process of manufacturing the red media substrate 610.

First, a photoresist thin film is formed to a predetermined thickness over the entire surface of the substrate 611 corresponding to the body of the red medium substrate 610, and only a portion of the photoresist thin film corresponding to the previously defined red element attach regions 141 and 143 is formed. The exposure / development / baking process is performed continuously so that the photoresist thin film 612 is left.

Subsequently, the substrate 611 is placed in an etching solution so that the portion not protected by the photoresist thin film 612 is etched by the etching solution, so that etching proceeds as shown in FIG. 5 and then ashing ( The red intermediate substrate 610 is manufactured by removing all of the photoresist thin film 612 remaining on the substrate 611 through an ashing process or the like.

In this case, the portions of the green, blue, and green media substrates 610, 620, and 630 that protrude without being etched are specifically defined as element forming pedestals 615, 625, and 635. This will have a trapezoidal shape.

Hereinafter, the red organic light emitting device group 300, the blue organic light emitting device group 400, and the green organic light emitting device group 500 are formed on the green, blue, and green substrates 610, 620, and 630 formed through the above process. A process of doing this will be described with reference to FIG. 7.

First, in FIG. 7, an initiation process of forming a red organic electroluminescent device group 300 on a red medium substrate 610 is illustrated.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, a sacrificial thin film layer 619 is formed to a predetermined thickness by a method such as co-deposition over the entire area of the red medium substrate 610.

In this case, the sacrificial thin film layer 619 may be polysilicon, amorphous silicon, or the like. In addition to this, any material etched by a specific etchant or etching gas may be used. In the present invention, amorphous silicon etched by XeF ₂ gas is used as a material for forming the sacrificial thin film layer 619 as an embodiment.

Subsequently, an indium tin oxide film (Indium Tin Oxide film), which is a conductive material having high light transmittance and low resistance, is formed on the upper surface of the red medium substrate 610 by a method such as co-deposition over the entire area as shown in FIG. 8. ) Is formed to a predetermined thickness.

In this case, the indium tin oxide thin film formed on the upper surface of the element forming pedestal 615 of the indium tin oxide thin film 331 formed on the red medium substrate 610 is subjected to a photoresist coating process, a photo process, a developing process, an etching process It is divided into at least one or more as shown in FIG.

That is, in the present invention, the indium tin oxide thin film 331 formed on the upper surface of the device forming pedestal 615 is patterned to be divided into six in one embodiment, the number of divided indium tin oxide thin film 331 according to the resolution Any amount can be changed.

Hereinafter, each divided indium tin oxide thin film 331 will be defined as a cathode electrode and will be referred to by reference numeral 331.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 10, a red organic electroluminescent material is applied to the upper surface of the red medium substrate 610 formed up to the cathode electrode 331 to a predetermined thickness over the entire surface to form a red organic electroluminescent layer 320. .

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 11, a metal thin film layer 310 formed of a metal material, preferably aluminum, is formed on an upper surface of the red organic electroluminescent layer 320 on the top surface of the red organic electroluminescent layer 320. Group 300 is produced.

Hereinafter, the metal thin film layer 310 will be referred to as an anode electrode and denoted by reference numeral 310.

After the red organic electroluminescent device group 300 formed on the red medium substrate 610 is aligned with the red device attach regions 141 and 144 formed on the base substrate 100 as shown in FIG. The anode electrode 310 of the red organic electroluminescent device group 300 is attached to the adhesive layer 200 previously formed in the active region.

Then, when the base substrate 100 and the red medium substrate 610 are completely adhered, they are transferred to and loaded into the etching chamber 700 shown in FIG. 13, and then the etching chamber 700 from the reaction gas supply device 710. XeF ₂ gas for etching the sacrificial thin film layer 619 made of amorphous silicon is supplied to selectively etch the sacrificial thin film layer 619 formed on the red intermediate substrate 610 so that the base organic light emitting device is formed on the base substrate 100. The group 300 remains attached.

Thereafter, the base substrate 100 is subjected to a subsequent process such as cleaning.

As described above, after the red organic light emitting device group 300 is attached to the base substrate 100 at the designated position, the base substrate 100 is again attached to the blue organic light emitting device group 400 or the green organic light emitting device group 500. ) Is formed.

15, a blue organic electroluminescent device group 400 is formed on the blue medium substrate 620.

Referring to FIG. 15, the device forming pedestal 625 of the blue medium substrate 620 includes a sacrificial thin film layer 619, a cathode electrode 430 patterned to be divided into six, a blue organic electroluminescent layer 420, and an anode. The electrode 410 is formed, the blue organic light emitting device group 400 is manufactured, and the blue medium substrate 620 on which the blue organic light emitting device group 400 is formed is the base substrate 100 as shown in FIG. 16. And attached to the blue device attach region (refer to FIG. 14; 142 and 144) adjacent to the red organic electroluminescent device group 300 already attached to the red organic electroluminescent device group 300, and then injected into the etching chamber 700 as shown in FIG. By removing the sacrificial thin film layer 619, the blue organic electroluminescent device group 400 is formed adjacent to the red organic electroluminescent device group 300.

17 or 18, a state in which the green organic light emitting diode group 500 is formed on the green medium substrate 630 is illustrated.

Referring to FIG. 17, the element forming support 635 of the green medium substrate 630 described above includes a sacrificial thin film layer 619, a cathode electrode 530 patterned to be divided into six, and a green organic light emitting layer 520. In addition, the anode electrode 510 is formed, the green organic light emitting device group 500 is manufactured, and the green medium substrate 630 on which the green organic light emitting device group 500 is formed is a base substrate as shown in FIG. 17. Attached to the blue organic electroluminescent device group 400 and the green device attach regions 143 and 146 that are already attached to the (100), and then added to the etching chamber 700 as shown in FIG. By removing 619, the green organic light emitting diode group 500 is formed in the vicinity of the blue organic light emitting diode group 400.

Through such a process, the red organic electroluminescent device group 300, the blue organic electroluminescent device group 400, and the green organic electroluminescent device group 500 are all included in the base substrate 100 as shown in FIG. 19. Is formed.

In this case, the anode electrode lead 110 formed in the anode electrode lead region formed on the base substrate 100 may include the red organic light emitting diode group 300, the blue organic light emitting diode group 400, and the green organic light emitting diode group 500. Bar is electrically connected to), any connection means (not shown) may be used separately.

Meanwhile, in order for the organic electroluminescent device 900 according to the present invention to operate normally, the red organic electroluminescent device group 300, the blue organic electroluminescent device group 400, and the green organic electroluminescent device group ( Cathode electrodes 330, 430, and 530 that are common to each row of 500 are connected to the interconnect electrode 750 shown in FIG. 20, and then the cathode electrode lead 120 and the interconnect electrode 750 formed in the cathode electrode lead region are connected. Perform the process of connecting the.

In this case, the interconnection electrode 750 should be in contact with the cathode electrodes 330, 430, 530, but may cover the cathode electrodes 330, 430, 530 with a minimum area. Preferably, a transparent indium tin oxide thin film is used.

As described in detail above, by forming an organic electroluminescent device on a base substrate to enable display, various effects of preventing breakage of the organic electroluminescent device as well as dramatically reducing the weight and volume of the organic electroluminescent device. Has

In the present invention, an embodiment in which an organic electroluminescent device is implemented on a synthetic resin substrate is illustrated and described as a preferred embodiment. Alternatively, the object of the present invention may be achieved by performing the same on a glass substrate other than the synthetic substrate.

Claims (11)

A base substrate having a predetermined area; Bonding means formed on the base substrate; At least one or more are divided into a long rod-shaped first electrode bonded to the bonding means in a parallel manner, an organic electroluminescent means formed on an upper surface of the first electrode, and at least one or more on an upper surface of the organic electroluminescent means Organic electroluminescent device groups comprising a second electrode formed such that; And an interconnection electrode for electrically connecting said second electrode belonging to the same column of said second electrodes of said group of organic electroluminescent elements arranged in a parallel manner. The organic electroluminescent device according to claim 1, wherein the organic electroluminescent means formed in the organic electroluminescent element groups are organic electroluminescent materials each having a different color. The organic electroluminescent device of claim 1, wherein the interconnect electrode is a transparent electrode. The organic electroluminescent device according to claim 1, wherein the base substrate is formed with a first electrode lead electrically connected to the first electrodes and a second electrode lead electrically connected to the interconnection electrode. The organic electroluminescent device of claim 1, wherein the base substrate is made of a synthetic resin material. A method of manufacturing an organic electroluminescent device on an upper surface of a base substrate on which a first electrode lead region, a second electrode lead region, and an active region are formed, At least one first electrode formed in a first direction in a first direction on a top surface of the intermediate substrate on which the sacrificial thin film layer is formed, an organic electroluminescent layer formed on an upper surface of the first electrode, and at least one formed on an upper surface of the organic electroluminescent layer Forming groups of organic electroluminescent devices comprising a second electrode; Bonding the groups of organic electroluminescent devices to the active region of the base substrate; Etching the sacrificial thin film layer to separate the intermediate substrate from the organic electroluminescent device group; Connecting a second electrode belonging to the same row of the second electrodes with a conductive member; Connecting the first electrode to a first electrode lead formed in the first electrode lead region, and connecting the second electrode lead formed on the second electrode lead region to the conductive member. Way. The method of claim 6, wherein the sacrificial thin film layer is any one of polysilicon and amorphous silicon. The method of claim 6, wherein the organic electroluminescent device group and the base substrate are bonded by one of an adhesive material and a double-sided adhesive tape. The method of manufacturing an organic electroluminescent device according to claim 6, wherein in the step of connecting to the conductive member, the conductive member is an indium tin oxide thin film. The method of claim 6, wherein the base substrate is made of a synthetic resin material. The method of claim 6, wherein the sacrificial thin film layer is etched by XeF ₂ gas.