High-Precision OLED Manufacturing with Elevated Confinement Wells
Here’s PatSnap Eureka !
Summary
Problems
High-resolution OLED displays face challenges in precision droplet placement and uniformity during manufacturing, leading to reduced fill factor and increased manufacturing costs, particularly due to the sensitivity of inkjet printing techniques to droplet size and placement errors, which affects the lifetime and efficiency of the displays.
Innovation solutions
The method involves depositing a substantially continuous active OLED material layer with a non-planar topography over electrodes in confinement wells, using inkjet printing, to enhance the fill factor and reduce visual artifacts, by configuring larger confinement wells that span multiple sub-pixels and using conventional inkjet nozzles with droplet volumes ranging from 1 pL to 50 pL, thereby improving deposition precision and uniformity.
TRIZ Analysis
Specific contradictions:
General conflict description:
Principle concept:
If conventional inkjet printing is used with small confinement wells for high pixel density, then resolution is improved, but droplet placement precision and uniformity deteriorate
Why choose this principle:
The patent transitions from two-dimensional planar confinement wells to three-dimensional elevated confinement structures. By raising the confinement structures to form elevated wells, the patent creates additional vertical space that accommodates larger droplet volumes while maintaining precise lateral confinement. This dimensional change allows conventional inkjet printing systems to achieve high pixel density without sacrificing droplet placement precision, as the elevated structure provides a larger target area for droplet deposition while preventing spread to adjacent pixels.
Principle concept:
If confinement well area is reduced to increase pixel density, then resolution is improved, but fill factor deteriorates
Why choose this principle:
By elevating the confinement structures vertically, the patent increases the effective volume of the confinement well without increasing its lateral footprint. This allows the active OLED material layer to occupy more vertical space within the same lateral boundaries, thereby increasing the fill factor (the ratio of active emission area to total pixel area) while maintaining high pixel density. The elevated structure creates additional headroom for the organic layers, enabling larger droplet deposition that covers more of the pixel area.
Application Domain
Data Source
AI summary:
The method involves depositing a substantially continuous active OLED material layer with a non-planar topography over electrodes in confinement wells, using inkjet printing, to enhance the fill factor and reduce visual artifacts, by configuring larger confinement wells that span multiple sub-pixels and using conventional inkjet nozzles with droplet volumes ranging from 1 pL to 50 pL, thereby improving deposition precision and uniformity.
Abstract
A method of manufacturing an organic-light emitting diode (OLED) display can include providing on a substrate a first electrode associated with a first sub-pixel and a second electrode associated with a second sub-pixel, wherein a gap is formed between the first electrode and the second electrode and wherein the first electrode and the second electrode are positioned in a well having boundaries defined by a confinement structure on the substrate. The method can also include depositing in the well with the electrodes positioned therein, active OLED material to form a substantially continuous layer of active OLED material that spans the boundaries of the well such that a surface of the layer of active OLED material that faces away from the substrate has a non-planar topography. The depositing can be via inkjet printing.