KR101795997B1 - Organic light emitting diode display and method for manufacturing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display device, and more particularly, to an organic light emitting diode display device capable of reducing the number of photo processes by removing a storage mask and a method of manufacturing the same. According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing an organic light emitting diode display, including: forming a plurality of active layers in a buffer layer using a first mask; Depositing an insulating film, a transparent electrode metal, and a gate metal on top of the plurality of active buffer layers, and etching the transparent electrode metal and the gate metal using a second mask to form a plurality of gates; Forming a drain contact hole to which a source contact hole and a drain to which a source is to be connected are connected, using the third mask, after exposing the plurality of gate tops with an interlayer insulating film, exposing gates of the storage capacitor portion and the pixel electrode portion; Forming a source and a drain on the interlayer insulating film by using a fourth mask and doping the storage capacitor portion; And forming a bank and a spacer on top of the source and the drain using a fifth mask.

Description

Technical Field [0001] The present invention relates to an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display device and a method of manufacturing the same,

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an organic light emitting diode display device, and more particularly, to an organic light emitting diode display device and a method of manufacturing the same.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, various flat panel displays (FPDs) have been developed to reduce weight and volume, which are disadvantages of cathode ray tubes. Such flat panel display devices include a liquid crystal display (LCD), a field emission display (FED), a plasma display panel (PDP), and an electroluminescence device.

In particular, the organic light emitting diode display device uses a self-luminous element which emits light by itself, and thus has a high response speed and a high luminous efficiency and luminance And a large viewing angle.

1A to 1I are cross-sectional views illustrating a method of manufacturing a conventional organic light emitting diode display device.

A conventional method of manufacturing an organic light emitting diode display device includes a process using nine masks as shown in FIG. That is, in a conventional method of manufacturing an organic light emitting diode display device, a panel of an organic light emitting diode display device is manufactured by using nine masks. Particularly, a mask is used for each layer, (Backplane: B / P). Thus, a conventional method of manufacturing an organic light emitting diode display device is composed of 42 sub-steps.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1A, an active layer 21 is deposited on a glass substrate 10 and a buffer 20, followed by crystallization of dehydrogenation. At this time, active is formed by using an active mask (not shown) which is a first mask.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1B, a photoresist (PR) 22 is formed using a storage mask (not shown) as a second mask, followed by storage doping to form a capacitance (cap.).

Next, as shown in FIG. 1C, after the gate insulating film (GI) 30 is deposited, a gate 31 is formed by using a third mask (not shown).

Next, as shown in FIG. 1D, an interlayer insulating film (ILD) 40 is deposited and hydrogenated. Then, a source / drain contact hole (S / D Contact Hole) is formed by using a fourth mask (not shown) (41).

Next, as shown in FIG. 1E, a source / drain (S / D) 42 is formed using a fifth mask (not shown).

Next, as shown in FIG. 1F, a protective film (PAS) 50 is deposited, hydrogenated, and then a pixel contact hole (PXL Contact Hole) 51 is formed using a sixth mask (not shown) do.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1G, a pixel electrode (PXL ITO) 60 is formed by using a seventh mask (not shown).

Next, as shown in FIG. 1H, after depositing the bank 70, the pixel electrode 60 is exposed using an eighth mask (not shown).

Finally, as shown in FIG. 1I, a panel of an organic light emitting diode display is manufactured by forming a spacer 80 using a ninth mask (not shown).

Meanwhile, in the conventional method of manufacturing an organic light emitting diode display device as described above, not only the tact time is long, but also the cost is considerably consumed due to a large number of process steps (9 times photo process) There is a problem that product competitiveness is deteriorating.

That is, in order to manufacture an organic light emitting diode display device of an active matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED bottom emission) type by a conventional method, a 9 mask process is required as described above, There is a problem that a large number of photolithography processes are required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an organic light emitting diode display device and a method of manufacturing the same that can reduce the number of photo processes by removing a storage mask.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of fabricating an organic light emitting diode display device, including: forming a plurality of active layers in a buffer layer using a first mask; Depositing an insulating film, a transparent electrode metal, and a gate metal on top of the plurality of active buffer layers, and etching the transparent electrode metal and the gate metal using a second mask to form a plurality of gates; Forming a drain contact hole to which a source contact hole and a drain to which a source is to be connected are connected, using the third mask, after exposing the plurality of gate tops with an interlayer insulating film, exposing gates of the storage capacitor portion and the pixel electrode portion; Forming a source and a drain on the interlayer insulating film by using a fourth mask and doping the storage capacitor portion; And forming a bank and a spacer on top of the source and the drain using a fifth mask.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an organic light emitting diode display device comprising: a panel manufactured by the method of manufacturing the organic light emitting diode display device according to any one of claims 1 to 12; A gate driver for supplying a scan pulse to the panel; A data driver for supplying a pixel signal to the panel; And a timing controller for outputting a gate control signal for controlling the gate driver and a data control signal for controlling the data driver.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an organic light emitting diode display comprising: an insulating layer stacked on top of a plurality of active buffer layers; A plurality of gates formed by etching a gate metal and a transparent electrode metal layer stacked on the insulating film; An interlayer insulating film applied on top of the plurality of gates; A source and a drain formed on the interlayer insulating film; A bank and a spacer formed on the interlayer insulating film on which the source and the drain are formed; A transparent electrode formed of the transparent electrode metal; And a transparent electrode formed of the transparent electrode metal, the storage capacitor portion being exposed to the active top via the insulating film.

According to the above-mentioned solution, the present invention reduces the number of photolithography processes by removing the storage mask, thereby simplifying the manufacturing process and simplifying the manufacturing process.

That is, the present invention can simplify the process by reducing the conventional 9-mask process to 5-mask process, and thus simplify the conventional 42 sub-steps to 29 sub-steps, which is advantageous for mass production, And the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

1A to 1I are cross-sectional views illustrating a method of manufacturing a conventional organic light emitting diode display device.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display device.
FIGS. 3A to 3E are various cross-sectional views illustrating a method of manufacturing an organic light emitting diode display device according to the present invention.

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

2 is a block diagram of an organic light emitting diode display according to an embodiment of the present invention.

That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the organic light emitting diode display according to the present invention outputs a gate control signal GCS and a data control signal DCS, and outputs digital video data RGB (hereinafter simply referred to as " A gate driver 920 for supplying scan pulses to the gate lines GL1 to GLn of the panel 940 in response to the gate control signal, A data driver 930 for supplying a pixel signal to each data line DL1 to DLm of the panel in response to a data control signal and a data driver 930 for driving pixels driven by the scan pulse and the pixel signal in a matrix form, (940). In addition, the organic light emitting diode display includes a power supply (not shown) for supplying power to the components.

The timing controller 910 receives a gate control signal for controlling the gate driver 920 using the vertical and horizontal synchronizing signals V and H supplied from the system (not shown) and the clock signal CLK, And outputs a data control signal for controlling the control unit 930. In addition, the timing controller samples the video signal input from the system, rearranges the sampled video signals, and supplies the data to the data driver 930.

Next, the gate driver 920 sequentially supplies a scan pulse (gate pulse or gate-on signal) to the gate lines GL1 to GLn in response to the gate control signal input from the timing controller, The thin film transistors (TFT) of the corresponding horizontal line on the TFTs are turned on.

Next, the data driver 930 converts the video signal RGB to an analog pixel signal (data signal or data voltage) corresponding to the gray level value in response to the data control signal input from the timing controller, A signal is supplied to the data lines DL1 - DLm on the panel 940.

Next, in the panel 940, a plurality of pixels are formed by the intersection of the plurality of gate lines GL and the data lines DL.

Each pixel is provided with a gate line GL, a data line DL, a high potential line for supplying a high potential supply voltage VDD and a low potential supply line VSS for supplying a low potential supply voltage VSS, Potential lines can be arranged.

Further, an organic light emitting diode (OLED) is connected between the high potential line and the high potential line in each pixel. That is, one pixel of the panel of the organic light emitting diode display manufactured according to the present invention includes an organic light emitting diode (OLED) as shown in FIG.

The organic light emitting diode includes an anode electrode, a cathode electrode, and organic compound layers (HIL, HTL, EML, ETL, EIL) formed between both electrodes.

The organic compound layer includes a hole injection layer (HIL), a hole transport layer (HTL), an emission layer (EML), an electron transport layer (ETL), and an electron injection layer EIL).

When a driving voltage is applied to the anode electrode and the cathode electrode, holes passing through the HTL and electrons passing through the ETL are transferred to the EML to form excitons, Thereby generating visible light.

In addition, each pixel may include a gate line GL, a data line DL and a switching transistor T1 electrically connected between the first node and the first node. In addition, the pixel may include a driving transistor T2 electrically connected between a first node, a high potential supply voltage line and a second node. Also, a storage capacitor Cst may be formed between the first node and the high potential supply voltage line VDD (or the low potential supply voltage line VSS).

In addition, the organic light emitting diode display device having the above-described panel structure is divided into a top emission type and a bottom emission type according to a transmission direction of light emitted through the light emitting layer. The present invention can be applied to a method of manufacturing a panel using a top emission type, but it is particularly preferable to apply to manufacturing a panel using a bottom emission type.

The portion of the panel 940 excluding the organic light emitting diode OLED from each pixel is referred to as a circuit portion or an array element (hereinafter, simply referred to as a "circuit portion").

In particular, the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a panel (940) comprising a circuit part and an organic light emitting diode among organic light emitting diode display devices, and more particularly, to a method of manufacturing a circuit part.

That is, among methods of manufacturing an organic light emitting diode display device, there is a method of forming a circuit part of a panel on a substrate, and then forming an organic light emitting diode on the circuit part through a separate processing line. In particular, the present invention relates to a method of forming a circuit portion on a substrate.

In more detail, the present invention is characterized in that a circuit part and an organic light emitting diode are formed on separate substrates, respectively, and then the two substrates are electrically connected to each other through a contact spacer, And more particularly, to a method of manufacturing a dual panel type organic light emitting diode (OLED) display device capable of independently managing defects such as defects in a display panel.

Therefore, a method of forming a circuit part on a substrate, which is a method of manufacturing an organic light emitting diode display device according to the present invention, will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

3A to 3E are various cross-sectional views illustrating a method of manufacturing an organic light emitting diode display device according to the present invention.

A method of manufacturing an organic light emitting diode display device according to the present invention is a dual panel type in which a circuit portion and an organic light emitting diode are formed through separate processes as described above. , And the number of masks can be reduced to five.

In addition, the present invention can be applied to a method of manufacturing a panel using a top emission type, but it is particularly preferable to apply the method of manufacturing a panel using a bottom emission type.

Accordingly, a method of manufacturing a panel of an organic light emitting diode display device driven by a bottom emission type will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. On the other hand, masks are not shown in Figs. 3A to 3E, but the masks described below are those used for the photolithography in each process.

3A, a buffer layer 200 is formed on a glass substrate 100, and then a plurality of active materials 210 are formed using a first mask. Here, a plurality of active (ACT) may be polycrystalline silicon. Such actively used polycrystalline silicon can be formed by forming an amorphous silicon layer on a substrate on which a buffer layer is formed, and then crystallizing the amorphous silicon at a predetermined temperature by various crystallization methods. At this time, an ELA crystallization method may be used as a method of crystallizing the amorphous silicon layer.

Here, the excimer laser annealing (ELA) crystallization method refers to a method in which when a thin film (for example, a-Si) is irradiated with a laser beam to leave a part of the thin film without melting, As a method of causing seeds to act on the progression, the shape of crystal can be variously shaped depending on the position and density of the seed.

3B, after the insulating film 300, the transparent electrode metal, and the gate metal are coated on the plurality of active films 210, the transparent electrode 310 and the gate 320 are formed using a second mask, . At this time, the same materials as the transparent electrode 310 and the gate 320 are formed in the portions where the storage capacitor and the pixel electrode are formed (referred to as the storage capacitor portion A and the pixel electrode portion B, respectively). That is, the transparent electrode 310 formed on the pixel electrode part B is exposed on the pixel electrode part B through the processes to be described below, and the pixel electrode part B connected to the anode (or cathode) Function.

Here, the gate 320 is formed by laminating a gate metal and a transparent electrode metal on the insulating film 300, then etching the gate metal first, then further etching the transparent electrode PXL ITO , And then performing a strip process. Meanwhile, the source / drain region of the active region 210 is doped by performing P + doping using the gate as a mask. That is, by the P + doping using the gate as a mask, the source / drain region of the active 210 which functions as a thin film transistor (TFT) in the circuit portion is doped.

At this time, since the active width formed in the storage capacitor portion A and the pixel electrode portion B does not greatly differ from the width of the gate 320 formed at the upper end thereof as shown in FIG. 3B, Doping can not be performed using the gate as a mask.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3C, the upper end of the gate is coated with an interlayer dielectric (ILD) 400, and then the storage capacitor portion A and the pixel electrode portion B And a drain contact hole 410 to which a source contact hole and a drain to which a source is to be connected are formed.

Wherein the source contact hole and the drain contact hole expose active source and drain regions to be driven by a plurality of active transistors. That is, in the above description, the active functioning as the active transistor is doped into the source / drain region using the gate as a mask, and the source contact hole and the drain contact hole are formed in a portion On the interlayer insulating film.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3D, a source and a drain 500 are formed using a fourth mask. Here, the source and the drain are formed by simultaneously etching the metal to form the source / drain and the gate electrode of the pixel electrode portion B and the gate electrode of the storage capacitor portion B. That is, after a metal for forming a source and a drain (hereinafter, simply referred to as a "source / drain metal") is coated on the interlayer insulating film 400, the source / drain metal is etched using a fourth mask, Drain 500 are formed. On the other hand, the pixel electrode portion B and the gate 320 of the storage capacitor portion B are etched away together with the source / drain metal being etched. Therefore, the transparent electrode 310 is exposed to the storage capacitor portion A and the pixel electrode portion B. Here, the transparent electrode 310 exposed to the pixel electrode portion B is connected to the organic light emitting diode as described above, and functions as a pixel electrode.

Next, the active 210 of the storage capacitor portion A is doped with a dopant to form a storage capacitor. That is, a P + doping process for the storage capacitor unit A is performed. At this time, a separate mask is not required. That is, since the gate 320 of the pixel electrode portion B is etched through the etching process and only the transparent electrode 310 is exposed as shown in FIG. 3D, the storage capacitor portion A, the dopant is injected into the active 210 through the transparent electrode 310 and the insulating film 300, so that the active is changed to the metal conductor.

Since a separate mask is not used, the dopant is injected not only into the storage capacitor portion A but also the entire region of the substrate shown in FIG. 3D, but the dopant passes through the transparent electrode 310 and the insulating film 300 The dopant may be injected only into the active 210 of the storage capacitor portion A by controlling the energy for doping the dopant so that the active is changed to the metal conductor. Accordingly, the active electrode 210 and the transparent electrode 310, which are changed from the storage capacitor unit A to the conductor, form a storage capacitor.

Finally, as shown in FIG. 3E, the banks 600 and the spacers 700 are formed using the fifth mask, thereby completing the fabrication of the circuit board. At this time, the bank and the spacer may be formed in the city through a single photolithography process using a half-tone mask, which is a fifth mask. That is, a pattern forming method using a halftone mask uses a principle of diffraction that causes a diffraction phenomenon to occur in light passing through the slit. In the present invention, by using such a halftone mask, And has a feature of forming a pattern, that is, a bank and a spacer.

Here, the bank 600 functions to isolate and isolate the source / drain and the organic light emitting diode (not shown) stacked on the source / drain. The spacer 700 functions to separate the mask from the bank 600 when the organic light emitting diode is formed on the top of the bank.

The subsequent process is a process of attaching the organic light emitting diode substrate on which the organic light emitting diode is formed to be electrically connected to the circuit substrate manufactured according to the process or forming the organic light emitting diode on the circuit substrate. And the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

That is, the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a back panel (B / P) of an organic light emitting diode (OLED) using low temperature polysilicon (LTPS) ) Can be reduced to five mask processes.

Here, the LTPS (Low Temperature Poly Silicon) technology refers to a technique of forming a thin film transistor (TFT) on a glass substrate at a low temperature of 600 degrees or less using laser technology. The application of such an LTPS-based TFT has the advantage of being able to realize high-speed driving through excellent electrical characteristics. Therefore, as described above, the present invention uses the LTPS technique when forming the source region and the drain region on the active region, and when forming the storage capacitor of the storage capacitor region B.

Hereinafter, the characteristics of the present invention will be described in more detail by comparing the present invention with the prior art as described above.

That is, as described above, in order to manufacture the panel made of the conventional 9 mask as the five masks, as described above, the storage capacitor unit A, which is exposed through another process, (STG), which has conventionally been used as a second mask for forming a storage capacitor, is removed by forming a storage capacitor by doping a dopant in the storage capacitor.

3B, a transparent electrode 310 used as a pixel electrode is formed on the lower end of the gate 320, and a protective film (not shown) formed between the source / drain and the pixel electrode PAS) was removed to remove the sixth mask, which was used for forming the contact hole on the protective film PAS.

In addition, as described with reference to FIG. 3B, the present invention reduces one mask by simultaneously forming the transparent electrode 310 and the gate 310 to be used as the pixel electrode PXL.

In addition, as described with reference to FIG. 3E, the present invention reduces one mask by simultaneously forming banks and spacers using a halftone mask.

That is, in the present invention, first, the mask process is reduced by removing the storage mask for doping the storage capacitor, which has been conventionally used, and second, a mask for forming a contact hole on the protective film by removing the protective film A mask process for forming a pixel electrode is performed by depositing a transparent electrode 310 for a pixel electrode (PXL ITO) under the gate 320 Fourth, a bank and a spacer are simultaneously formed by using a halftone mask, thereby reducing one mask process.

Accordingly, the present invention is characterized in that a total of four masks are reduced in comparison with a conventional method of manufacturing an organic light emitting diode display device.

Other features of the present invention besides reducing the number of masks as described above are as follows.

That is, the present invention does not use a halftone mask (HTM) process other than the process for forming the bank 600 and the spacer 700, which has been described with reference to FIG. 3E, It is easy to use.

The gate 310 exposed to the storage capacitor portion A is etched together with the source / drain metal to form the transparent electrode 320 of the storage capacitor portion A when the source / drain pattern 500 is formed. A storage doping is performed to form an insulating film GI between the active (ACT) 210 and the transparent electrode PXL ITO 310 formed in the storage capacitor portion A 300) is used as a storage capacitor.

That is, the present invention is characterized in that the source / drain (S / D) region doping of the active 210 serving as a transistor and the active doping of the storage capacitor A are separately performed, , The active source / drain (S / D) region doping is performed immediately after forming the gate 320 pattern, and the active doping of the storage capacitor portion A is performed after the source / drain 500 is formed .

The present invention also has a feature that the transparent electrode to be used as a pixel electrode is exposed to the outside by etching the gate with the source / drain metal in the same manner as the storage capacitor portion A in the pixel electrode portion (B) .

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. It is therefore to be understood that the above-described embodiments are illustrative in all aspects and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims rather than the detailed description and all changes or modifications derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and their equivalents are to be construed as being included within the scope of the present invention do.

100: glass substrate 200: buffer layer
300: insulating film 400: interlayer insulating film (ILD)
500: source / drain 600: bank
700: Spacer

Claims (16)

Forming a plurality of active in the buffer layer using a first mask;
The transparent electrode metal and the gate metal are sequentially deposited on the upper surface of the buffer layer on which the plurality of active materials are formed and then the transparent electrode metal and the gate metal are etched using the second mask to form a transparent Forming an electrode and a gate, a transparent electrode and a gate provided in the pixel electrode, and a transparent electrode and a gate constituting the transistor;
A source electrode and a drain electrode to which a source of the transistor is connected and a drain electrode to which a drain is to be connected are exposed by using a third mask after exposing the tops of the plurality of gates with an interlayer insulating film and exposing gates of the storage capacitor unit and the pixel electrode unit, Forming a hole;
Forming a source and a drain on the interlayer insulating film by using a fourth mask and doping the storage capacitor portion; And
Forming a bank and a spacer on top of the source and the drain using a fifth mask,
Wherein the step of using the second mask comprises:
Depositing an insulating film on top of the buffer layer on which the plurality of active elements are formed;
Sequentially stacking a transparent electrode metal and a gate metal on the insulating film;
Etching the gate metal and the transparent electrode metal using the second mask to form the transparent electrodes and the gates; And
Doping only the active source and drain regions constituting the transistor constituting the transistor and active in the storage capacitor section using the transparent electrode and the gate constituting the transistor as masks A method of manufacturing an organic light emitting diode display device. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the plurality of active formed using the first mask is formed by an excimer laser annealing crystallization method. delete delete delete delete The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the step of using the third mask comprises:
Coating the gate top with an interlayer insulating film;
Exposing the storage capacitor portion in which the storage capacitor is to be formed and the pixel electrode portion in which the pixel electrode is to be formed, using the third mask; And
And forming the source contact hole and the drain contact hole on the interlayer insulating film using the third mask. 8. The method of claim 7,
Wherein the source contact hole and the drain contact hole expose an active source region and a drain region to be driven by the plurality of active transistors. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the step of using the fourth mask comprises:
Depositing a source / drain metal for forming the source and the drain on the interlayer insulating film;
Etching the source / drain metal using the fourth mask to form the source and the drain; And
And doping the active formed in the storage capacitor portion with a dopant. 10. The method of claim 9,
And the gate exposed to the storage capacitor portion and the pixel electrode portion are etched together with the source / drain metal by the fourth mask to be removed. 11. The method of claim 10,
The dopant, which dopes the active,
A transparent electrode exposed to the storage capacitor after the gate is removed and an energy of a magnitude enough to be doped into the active formed in the storage capacitor through the insulating film. ≪ / RTI > The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the step of using the fifth mask comprises:
Wherein the bank and the spacer are simultaneously formed using the halftone mask as the fifth mask. A panel manufactured by the method of manufacturing the organic light emitting diode display device described in any one of claims 1, 2, and 12 to 12;
A gate driver for supplying a scan pulse to the panel;
A data driver for supplying a pixel signal to the panel; And
A gate control signal for controlling the gate driver, and a timing controller for outputting a data control signal for controlling the data driver. An insulating film stacked on top of a buffer layer on which a plurality of active elements are formed;
A plurality of transparent electrodes and gates formed by etching a transparent metal electrode and a gate metal sequentially stacked on the insulating film;
An interlayer insulating film applied on top of the plurality of gates;
A source and a drain forming a transistor and formed on the interlayer insulating film;
A bank and a spacer formed on the interlayer insulating film on which the source and the drain are formed;
The transparent electrode formed of the transparent electrode metal is exposed; And
Wherein the transparent electrode formed of the transparent electrode metal includes a storage capacitor portion exposed at the active top via the insulating film,
Wherein either one of the source and the drain is electrically connected to the transparent electrode through a gate remaining on an outer periphery of an upper end of the transparent electrode exposed in the pixel electrode portion. 15. The method of claim 14,
And the transparent electrode of the pixel electrode part is connected to the organic light emitting diode. 15. The method of claim 14,
Wherein the active of the storage capacitor unit is doped by a dopant introduced through the transparent electrode.

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