KR101591334B1 - Touch panel type organic electro-luminescent device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an organic electroluminescent device, and more particularly to an organic electroluminescent device having a touch sensor incorporated therein.

A feature of the present invention is that a protective layer is formed on the touch panel and the touch panel and the OLED panel are attached to each other through the adhesive layer so that the overall thickness of the touch panel type OLED is reduced compared to the conventional case. In addition, since the weight is also relatively light, a thin, lightweight touch panel type OLED is provided.

By forming the protective layer on the touch panel rather than directly on the organic light emitting diode, the protective layer can be provided on the upper part of the organic light emitting diode, The layer forming process time can be shortened.

An organic electroluminescent device, a touch panel, an organic light emitting diode

Description

[0001] Touch panel type organic electro-luminescent device [0002]

The present invention relates to an organic electroluminescent device, and more particularly to an organic electroluminescent device having a touch sensor incorporated therein.

Until recently, CRT (cathode ray tube) was mainly used as a display device. However, in recent years, flat panel displays such as a plasma display panel (PDP), a liquid crystal display device (LCD), and an organic electro-luminescence device (OLED) Display devices have been widely studied and used.

Of the above flat panel display devices, an organic electroluminescent element (hereinafter referred to as OLED) is a self-luminous element and can be lightweight and thin because it does not require a backlight used in a liquid crystal display device which is a non-light emitting element.

The liquid crystal display device is superior to the liquid crystal display device in viewing angle and contrast ratio, is advantageous in terms of power consumption, can be driven by DC low voltage, has a high response speed, and is resistant to external shocks OLEDs are widely used in mobile phones, PDAs or notebooks that can be carried by individuals.

In recent years, a touch panel having the advantage of being able to input letters and pictures more conveniently and precisely has been widely used in an electronic notebook or personal information processing apparatus. Recently, a touch panel type OLEDs are being provided.

The touch panel type OLED is formed by separately forming a touch panel and an OLED panel, and attaching the touch panel and the OLED panel to each other through an adhesive layer.

Here, the touch panel includes an upper film formed with an upper electrode, a lower film formed with a lower electrode, and a gap formed therebetween so as to have a predetermined space between the upper film and the lower film. The OLED panel includes a switching element And an organic electroluminescent diode, a protective layer for encapsulation, and a protective film for protecting the protective layer from the outside.

Accordingly, the entire thickness of the touch panel type OLED becomes thick, which causes a drawback that the transmittance and the color of the touch panel type OLED are also lowered, thereby lowering the reliability of the touch panel type OLED.

In addition, it causes a problem that the process cost is increased and the efficiency of the process is lowered.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a first object of the present invention to provide a lightweight and thin touch panel type OLED.

It is a second object of the present invention to improve the reliability of the touch panel type OLED and to reduce the process cost and the efficiency of the process.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an organic light emitting display comprising: an array substrate; an organic light emitting diode panel including an organic light emitting diode formed on the array substrate; And a touch panel that is bonded to the organic electroluminescent device panel through an adhesive layer, wherein the touch panel includes a first passivation layer.

In this case, the touch panel includes first and second touch substrates facing each other; A first touch electrode formed on the first touch substrate; And a second touch electrode formed on the second touch substrate spaced apart from the first touch electrode by a predetermined distance. The first passivation layer is attached to the outer surface of the first touch substrate and contacts the adhesive layer.

The first passivation layer is attached to the inner surfaces of the first and second touch substrates and contacts the first touch electrode or the second touch electrode. The first passivation layer is made of silicon nitride (SiNx) silicon (Si0 ₂₎ or alumina (Al ₂ O ₃₎ inorganic insulating containing material or polyacrylate (polyacrylate), polyimide (polyimide), polyamide insulating organic containing (polyamide), or benzocyclobutene (BCB) Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > a < / RTI > material.

A polarizing plate is provided in a direction of light emitted from the organic light emitting diode, and a second protective layer is further provided between the organic light emitting diode and the adhesive layer.

The second protective layer may be a single layer selected from organic insulating materials including polyimide, polyamide or benzocyclobutene (BCB), and the array substrate may include a plurality of pixels A transparent substrate defined as a region; A gate and a data line crossing one side and the other side of the pixel region; And a switching element and a driving element which are formed at intersections of the gate and the data line and are composed of a gate electrode, a semiconductor layer, a source and a drain electrode, and the organic electroluminescent diode is in contact with the drain electrode.

As described above, according to the present invention, the protective layer is formed on the touch panel, and the touch panel and the OLED panel are attached through the adhesive layer, thereby reducing the thickness of the entire touch panel type OLED. Further, since the weight is also relatively light, a lightweight thin touch panel type OLED can be provided.

By forming the protective layer on the touch panel rather than directly on the organic light emitting diode, the protective layer can be provided on the upper part of the organic light emitting diode, The layer forming process time can be shortened.

Hereinafter, embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

1 is a cross-sectional view schematically illustrating a touch panel type OLED according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The touch panel type OLED 100 according to the present invention includes an OLED panel 110 in which a driving and switching thin film transistor DTr and an organic light emitting diode E are formed and a touch sensor TS, And a touch panel 120 constituting a touch panel.

A driving thin film transistor DTr is formed on each of the pixel regions P on the substrate 101. Although not shown, the driving thin film transistor DTr is formed in each pixel region P ), And is composed of a gate electrode, a semiconductor layer, and a source and a drain electrode.

A first electrode 111 connected to a drain electrode (not shown) of each of the driving TFTs DTr and an organic light emitting layer 113 emitting light of a specific color are formed on the first electrode 111, And a second electrode 115 is formed on the organic light emitting layer 113.

The first and second electrodes 111 and 115 and the organic light emitting layer 113 formed therebetween form an organic light emitting diode E.

Meanwhile, the OLED panel 110 is divided into a top emission type and a bottom emission type according to the direction of light emission. Hereinafter, the top emission type will be described as an example of the present invention. .

The first electrode 111 is made of a transparent conductive material having a relatively large work function value to serve as an anode electrode and the second electrode 115 is made of a metal material having a lower work function value than the first electrode 111 And serves as a cathode electrode.

Since the light emitted from the organic light emitting layer 13 must be transmitted through the second electrode 115, the second electrode 15 may be formed by forming a transparent conductive material on the semi-transparent metal film thinly deposited with a metal material having a low work function, .

Therefore, the light emitted from the organic light emitting layer 113 is driven by the upper light emitting method, which is emitted toward the second electrode 115.

An adhesive layer 160 having adhesive properties is disposed on the driving thin film transistor DTr and the organic light emitting diode E. The adhesive layer 160 protects the second electrode 115 of the organic electroluminescent diode E And an organic insulating material having an adhesive property for preventing moisture penetration into the organic light emitting layer 113. [

That is, the OLED panel 110 is encapsulated through the adhesive layer 160. Thus, the OLED panel 110 according to the embodiment of the present invention is completed.

A touch panel 120 is disposed on the OLED panel 110. The touch panel 120 is attached to the OLED panel 110 through an adhesive layer 160 of the OLED panel 110. [

The touch panel 120 includes a first touch substrate 141 on which a first touch electrode 145 is formed and a second touch substrate on which a second touch electrode 146 is formed 143 are spaced apart from each other.

The first touch electrode 145 is deposited on the entire surface of the first touch substrate 141. The first touch electrode 145 is formed of indium tin oxide (ITO) or indium zinc oxide (IZO) .

A second touch electrode 146 is formed on the second touch substrate 143 facing the first touch substrate 141 in the form of a bar spaced apart from the first touch substrate 141 by a predetermined distance and made of aluminum (Al) or aluminum alloy ), Magnesium (Mg), gold (Au), and silver (Ag).

The first and second touch electrodes 145 and 146 constitute a touch sensor TS.

That is, the second touch electrode 146 forms a resistance network around the first touch electrode 145, and the resistance network transmits a control signal evenly over the entire surface of the first touch electrode 145.

A protective layer 130 is formed between the touch panel 120 and the adhesive layer 160 of the OLED panel 110. The protective layer 130 is formed on the outer surface of the first touch substrate 141 of the touch panel 120,

The protection layer 130 prevents the contaminants such as moisture and gas from penetrating the organic light emitting layer 113 of the organic light emitting diode E to prevent deterioration of the organic light emitting diode E.

Here, the protection layer 130 is a silicon nitride (SiNx), silicon oxide (Si0 ₂₎ or alumina (Al ₂ O ₃₎ inorganic insulating material or polyacrylate (polyacrylate) including a polyimide (polyimide), polyamide or an organic insulating material including a polyimide or benzocyclobutene (BCB).

That is, the protective layer 130 formed on the touch panel 120 may be formed of any one of an inorganic insulating material and an organic insulating material. In order to further enhance the effect of the protective layer 130, It is preferable that the inorganic insulating material and the organic insulating material are stacked in layers.

Further, by attaching the polarizing plate 150 for blocking external light incident from the outside in the transmission direction of the light emitted through the organic light emitting layer 113 of the OLED panel 110, the contrast is improved.

As the light emitted from the organic light emitting layer 113 is emitted toward the second electrode 115, that is, the touch panel 120, the OLED panel 110 according to the present invention may emit light from the second touch substrate 120 of the touch panel 120, The polarizer 150 is attached to the outside of the light guide plate 143.

In more detail, the OLED panel 100 has a disadvantage that the contrast is greatly reduced according to the intensity of external light. Therefore, in order to prevent a decrease in contrast due to external light, the external light blocking polarizing plate 150 is attached in the light transmission direction.

The polarizer 150 is a circular polarizer for shielding external light. The external light incident from the outside to the OLED panel 110 is incident through the polarizer 150, and the incident external light is incident on the second electrode 115 And the direction of polarization thereof is changed.

Therefore, the incident external light can not transmit through the polarizer 150 and can not exit to the outside, causing extinction interference.

As a result, the contrast is improved by blocking external light.

In the touch panel type OLED 100 according to the present invention having the above-described configuration, the touch sensor TS of the touch panel 120 includes a second touch electrode 146, a first touch electrode 145, And a gap is formed at a predetermined interval. When a finger or the like comes into contact with the touch pad, the touch sensor detects the capacitance change due to the variation of the fringe field of the capacitor.

2A and 2B are simplified cross-sectional views illustrating the operation of a touch sensor in a touch panel type OLED according to the present invention.

For convenience of explanation, the driving and switching thin film transistors (not shown, DTr in FIG. 1) and the organic light emitting diode (E in FIG. 1) are omitted and only the touch sensor TS is shown.

2A, in the touch panel type OLED 100 of FIG. 1, a touch of the user's finger 200 or the like is applied to the surface of the second touch substrate 143 of the touch panel 120 The fringe field formed between the first touch electrode 145 and the second touch electrode 146 is kept constant, so that there is no capacitance change of the capacitors, so that the operation is not performed.

2B, when a touch of the user's finger 200 or the like is generated on the surface of the second touch substrate 143 of the touch panel 120, the first touch electrode 145 and the second touch electrode 143, The fringe field formed between the fingers 146 is affected by the finger 200 or the like which is touched, and thus the touch sensor TS senses that the touch sensor TS is touched.

The touch panel type OLED according to the embodiment of the present invention can be made lightweight and thin as compared with the conventional one, and the process cost is reduced and the process efficiency is improved. This will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 3A to 3B.

3A and 3B are schematic views schematically illustrating a manufacturing process of a touch panel type OLED according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

1, the touch panel type OLED 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention includes an OLED panel 110 and a touch panel 120 in which a driving thin film transistor DTr and an organic light emitting diode E are formed, Respectively, and attaching the two to each other through the adhesive layer 160.

At this time, the adhesive layer 160 is formed on the organic electroluminescent diode E of the OLED panel 110 through a coating method.

A protective layer for protecting the organic electroluminescent diode E from contaminants such as moisture and gas is formed on the outer surface of the first touch substrate 141 of the touch panel 120, And a polarizer 150 for blocking external light incident from the outside on the outer surface of the second touch substrate 143 of the touch panel 120 which is the transmission direction of the emitted light of the organic electroluminescent diode E, Respectively.

As a result, compared with the conventional touch panel type OLED, it can be made light and thin, and the process cost is reduced and the efficiency of the process is improved.

In detail, the conventional touch panel type OLED includes a top film on which an upper electrode is formed, a lower film on which a lower electrode is formed, and a touch panel including a gap formed between the upper film and the lower film, And an OLED panel comprising a switching element, an organic light emitting diode, a protective layer for encapsulation, and a protective film for protecting the protective layer from the outside.

At this time, since at least three material layers of the protective layer, the protective film and the adhesive layer are disposed between the touch panel and the organic light emitting diode, the thickness of the material layer becomes very large and the weight becomes relatively heavy. There is a problem in that the trend is reversed.

However, in the touch panel type OLED 100 of the present invention, only the adhesive layer 160 and the protective layer 130 are disposed between the touch panel 120 and the organic light emitting diode E, The thickness of the entire touch panel type OLED 100 becomes thinner than that of the conventional touch panel type OLED 100.

In addition, since the weight is also relatively light, a thin, lightweight touch panel type OLED 100 is provided.

The protective layer 130 for protecting the organic electroluminescent diode E from contaminants such as moisture or gas generally includes silicon nitride (SiNx), silicon oxide (SiO ₂ ), or alumina (Al ₂ O ₃ ) And at least one selected from inorganic insulating materials or organic insulating materials including polyacrylate, polyimide, polyamide or benzocyclobutene (BCB).

The organic light emitting layer (113 in FIG. 1) of the organic electroluminescent diode E is susceptible to moisture and is also very vulnerable to heat and plasma, In order to form the protective layer 130 on the upper portion of the electroluminescent diode E, it is necessary to form the protective layer 130 by low-temperature deposition in order to minimize the damage of the organic luminescent layer (113 in FIG.

Therefore, the film quality of the protective layer 130 is poor and the processing time is long.

However, in the touch panel type OLED 100 of the present invention, the passivation layer 130 is not formed directly on the organic electroluminescent diode E, but is formed on the back surface of the first touch substrate 141 of the touch panel 120 It is not necessary to consider that the organic light emitting diode E is damaged by the high heat treatment in the process of forming the protective layer 130. There is no need to deposit the protective layer 130 at a low temperature.

The protective layer 130 can be formed on the organic light emitting diode E on top of the protective layer 130. The protective layer 130 can be formed in a short time .

4A to 4B are schematic views schematically illustrating a touch panel type OLED according to another embodiment of the present invention.

The touch panel type OLED 100 according to the present invention includes an OLED panel 110 in which a driving and switching thin film transistor (DTr in FIG. 1, not shown) and an organic light emitting diode E are formed, The OLED panel 110 and the touch panel 120 are bonded to each other through the adhesive layer 160 to form the touch panel type OLED 100. [

At this time, the OLED panel 110 is encapsulated through the first passivation layer 130a to protect the second electrode (115 in FIG. 1) of the organic electroluminescent diode E, 1 113).

The first passivation layer 130a formed on the OLED panel 110 is formed directly on the organic electroluminescent diode E in FIG. 1, thereby forming the organic light emitting layer (FIG. 1E) of the organic electroluminescent diode 113 of the organic light emitting layer 113 is vulnerable to heat or plasma, it may be formed of a polyacrylate, a polyimide, or the like which can be formed through a coating method to minimize the damage of the organic light emitting layer (113 in FIG. , Polyamide, or an organic insulating material including benzocyclobutene (BCB).

1) of the organic light emitting diode (E in FIG. 1) is formed by the first passivation layer 130a formed of an organic material by further forming the second passivation layer 130b on the touch panel 120. [ 113), it is preferable to more effectively prevent water or gas from penetrating.

In this case, touch the second protective layer formed on the panel (120) (130b) is an inorganic insulating material, or polyacrylates containing silicon nitride (SiNx), silicon oxide (Si0 ₂₎ or alumina (Al ₂ O ₃₎ (polyacrylate ), Polyimide, polyamide, or organic insulating material including benzocyclobutene (BCB). The organic insulating material may be a single layer or a multilayer.

The position of the second protective layer 130b can be formed anywhere on the touch panel 120. [

As described above, in the touch panel type OLED 100 of the present invention, only the adhesive layer 160 and the protective layer 130 are positioned between the touch panel 120 and the organic light emitting diode E, The overall thickness of the touch panel type OLED 100 is reduced compared to the conventional case where the protective film is interposed.

In addition, since the weight is also relatively light, a thin, lightweight touch panel type OLED 100 is provided.

The protective layer 130 may be formed on the back surface of the first touch substrate 141 of the touch panel 120 without directly forming the protective layer 130 on the organic electroluminescent diode E, The protective layer 130 having an improved film quality can be provided on the upper portion of the light emitting diode E and the time for forming the protective layer 130 can be shortened.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

1 is a cross-sectional view schematically illustrating a touch panel type OLED according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are simplified cross-sectional views illustrating the operation of a touch sensor in a touch panel type OLED according to the present invention.

3A to 3B are schematic views schematically illustrating a manufacturing process of a touch panel type OLED according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4A to 4B are schematic views schematically illustrating a touch panel type OLED according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (10)

An organic electroluminescent device comprising: an array substrate; and an organic electroluminescent diode disposed on the array substrate; And A first touch electrode disposed on the inner surface of the first touch substrate and a second touch electrode disposed on the inner surface of the second touch substrate spaced apart from the first touch electrode by a predetermined distance, And a first passivation layer disposed between the first touch substrate and the first touch electrode or between the second touch substrate and the second touch electrode, wherein the first passivation layer is bonded to the organic electroluminescence device panel through an adhesive layer, Touch panel Wherein the organic electroluminescent device is a touch panel type organic electroluminescent device. delete delete delete The method according to claim 1, The first protective layer is a silicon nitride (SiNx), silicon oxide (Si0 ₂₎ or an inorganic insulating material or polyacrylate (polyacrylate) containing alumina (Al ₂ O _3), polyimide (polyimide), polyamide (polyamide ) Or an organic insulating material including benzocyclobutene (BCB). ≪ RTI ID = 0.0 > [10] < / RTI > The method according to claim 1, And a polarizer is provided in the light transmission direction of the light emitted from the organic light emitting diode. The method according to claim 1, And a second passivation layer between the organic electroluminescent diode and the adhesive layer. 8. The method of claim 7, Wherein the second passivation layer is formed of a single material selected from the group consisting of polyimide, polyamide, and organic insulating material including benzocyclobutene (BCB). The method according to claim 1, The array substrate A transparent substrate defined by a plurality of pixel regions; A gate and a data line crossing one side and the other side of the pixel region; And a switching element and a driving element which are formed at intersections of the gate and the data line and are composed of a gate electrode, a semiconductor layer, a source and a drain electrode, and a driving element. 10. The method of claim 9, Wherein the organic electroluminescent diode is in contact with the drain electrode.

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