A display panel having blind holes for adapting signals to be replaced with under-display components.

Abstract

The layered panel extends across first and second portions of the lateral surface and receives electromagnetic signals through the second portion. The first portion has a closed coating of deposition material, while the second portion does not. The second portion may include a nucleation inhibiting coating (NIC) and / or a low refractive index coating. The initial sticking probability of the deposition material of the NIC on the first portion may be less than 0.3 and / or less than the initial sticking probability of the deposition material on the base surface. A higher refractive index medium may be located on the low refractive index coating. The second portion may include at least one grain structure of the deposition material and / or a UVA absorbing layer. The first portion may include an emission region for emitting electromagnetic signals. The panel may include a substrate and a semiconductor layer. Each emission region may include first and second electrodes, the first electrode being between the substrate and the semiconductor layer, and the semiconductor layer being between the first and second electrodes.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] Related applications This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 007,851 filed on 9 April 2020, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 107,393 filed on 29 October 2020, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 153,834 filed on 25 February 2021, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 163,453 filed on 19 March 2021, the contents of each of these applications being incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

[0002] This disclosure relates to a display panel, and more particularly to a layered display panel that accepts electromagnetic signals through blind holes. [Background technology]

[0003] In optoelectronic devices such as organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), at least one semiconductor layer is disposed between a pair of electrodes, such as an anode and a cathode. The anode and cathode are electrically coupled to a power source, generating holes and electrons, respectively, that move toward each other through at least one semiconductor layer. When a pair of holes and electrons combine, a photon can be emitted.

[0004] An OLED display panel may contain multiple (sub)pixels, each having an associated pair of electrodes. The various layers and coatings of such a panel are typically formed by vacuum-based deposition techniques.

[0005] Such display panels can be used in electronic devices such as mobile phones, as an unspecified example.

[0006] In some non-limiting applications, it may be desirable to create openings or blind holes within the display panel to allow under-display components, which may be receivers or sensors and / or transmitters of electromagnetic signals including but not limited to electronic and / or optical signals, to be positioned so that electronic and / or optical signals, including but not limited to light and / or photons, can cross the device and be exchanged with the under-display components through the blind holes.

[0007] In some non-limiting applications, such blind holes penetrating a display panel may be achieved by forming and / or modifying the display panel after formation such that the area of ​​the blind hole substantially lacks components of the display panel that substantially do not transmit electromagnetic (EM) signals.

[0008] In some non-limiting examples, some of such components, such as thin-film transistor (TFT) structures and associated conductive metal wires electrically coupled to the TFT structures to selectively drive (sub)pixels, may be positioned during the manufacturing process such that these components do not lie within the area of ​​a blind hole.

[0009] Other components, including but not limited to electrodes including anodes and cathodes, may be provided such that these components are also located outside the area of ​​the blind holes.

[0010] In some applications, it may be desirable to pattern a conductive coating in a certain pattern for each (sub)pixel of a panel, either laterally or across the panel, by selective deposition of a conductive coating during the OLED manufacturing process to form device features such as electrodes and / or electrically coupled conductive elements.

[0011] One way to do this is to interpose a fine metal mask (FMM) during the deposition of a conductive electrode material, which in some non-limiting applications includes but is not limited to the cathode and / or anode, and / or is electrically coupled to this electrode. However, the materials typically used as electrodes have relatively high evaporation temperatures, which affects the ability to reuse the FMM and / or the precision of the pattern that can be achieved, and consequently increases cost, labor, and complexity.

[0012] One method to achieve this, in some non-limiting cases, involves depositing electrode material to form electrodes and then removing the unwanted areas to form a pattern, including by a laser drilling process. However, the removal process often involves the creation and / or presence of debris, which can affect the yield of the manufacturing process. In some non-limiting cases, electrode removal may also adversely affect the structural integrity of the display panel.

[0013] Furthermore, such methods may not be suitable for use in certain applications and / or with certain device panels having specific morphological features.

[0014] Furthermore, controlling the scope of the drilling process is often difficult, and as a result, in some non-limiting cases, not only are the electrodes removed, but one or more of the device layers beneath the electrodes are also removed.

[0015] In some non-limiting examples, such removal processes are used to remove both the anode and cathode within the blind hole region, resulting in the removal of at least one semiconductor layer positioned between the anode and cathode. In some non-limiting examples, the substrate may also be removed so that an opening can be formed by the drilling process. Such Hi-In-Active-Area (HIAA) structures can introduce several drawbacks, including, but not limited to, a reduction in the structural integrity of the device and the possibility of oxidation of one or more layers. In some non-limiting examples, such drawbacks can only be mitigated by expending considerable effort and expense, including the introduction of additional processing steps.

[0016] Removing at least one semiconductor layer introduces further challenges. Such semiconductor layers are susceptible to contamination, including but not limited to oxidation, which leads to a decrease in performance, lifetime, and / or yield. Consequently, the deposition of such semiconductor layers is typically carried out under high vacuum conditions to minimize the possibility of such contamination.

[0017] Therefore, even if such a removal process is achieved without substantially introducing any debris, once the display panel is removed from the high vacuum environment, additional processing steps may be required again under high vacuum conditions to seal the exposed edges of at least one semiconductor layer, and in some non-limiting examples, the anode and cathode, in order to prevent further contamination through the blind hole regions.

[0018] Such additional processing steps may include, but are not limited to, adding a layer of material surrounding the exposed edges of at least one semiconductor layer and / or anode and / or cathode along the boundary of the exposed edge with respect to the blind hole region. In some non-limiting examples, this material may include a layer of frit glass and / or a thin-film encapsulation (TFE) coating.

[0019] U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2020 / 0357871, titled “Display Device,” filed on 24 May 2019 and published on 12 November 2020 by CHUNG, Jin Koo et al., discloses a display device including a display panel and optical components. The display panel includes a lower substrate and an upper substrate. The display panel forms a light-transmitting region and a display region adjacent to the light-transmitting region. The optical components are adjacent to the back of the display panel and overlap with the portion corresponding to the light-transmitting region. The display region includes thin-film transistors and organic light-emitting elements configured to receive current from the thin-film transistors. The light-transmitting region does not include a metal layer disposed in the display region. The upper and lower substrates do not have through-hole structures in the light-transmitting region.

[0020] PCT International Patent Application Publication No. 2019 / 199693, entitled “Electronic Device Display for Through-Display Imaging,” filed on April 8, 2019, and published on October 17, 2019, by YAZDANDOOST, Mohammad Yeke et al., discloses a system and method for through-display imaging. The display includes an imaging aperture defined through an opaque backing. An optical imaging array is position-aligned with the aperture. Above the aperture, the display is positioned and / or configured to increase light transmittance. For example, a region of the display above or adjacent to the imaging aperture can be formed with a lower pixel density than other regions of the display, thereby increasing the inter-pixel distance (e.g., pitch) and increasing the area over which transmitted light can traverse the display and reach the optical imaging array.

[0021] Chinese Patent Application Publication No. 112234082, titled “Display and Electronics,” filed on October 10, 2020, assigned to Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecomm Corp, and published on January 15, 2021, discloses a display screen and electronic devices. The display screen includes a display layer, a driver layer, and a substrate. The driver layer is located below the display layer. The substrate is located below the driver layer. A first film layer, a second film layer, and a third film layer are stacked in order. The surface of the second film layer is formed with a textured microstructure. The microstructure is used to alter the propagation path of light after it has passed through the display layer and the driver layer. This path reduces or eliminates diffraction of light passing through the display. A textured microstructure is formed on the second film layer of the substrate below the driver layer. The microstructure can alter the propagation path of light passing through the display layer and the driver layer, i.e., the propagation path can react to diffracted light emitted from the driver layer. By interfering with and interrupting this light propagation path, diffraction of light passing through the entire display screen is reduced or eliminated, thereby improving the image quality of the camera installed beneath the display screen.

[0022] Providing an improved mechanism for providing blind hole areas in display panels would be beneficial. [Prior art documents] [Patent Documents]

[0023] [Patent Document 1] U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2020 / 0357871 [Patent Document 2] International Publication No. 2019 / 199693 [Patent Document 3] Chinese Patent Application Publication No. 112234082 Specification [Overview of the project] [Means for solving the problem]

[0024] The purpose of this disclosure is to eliminate or mitigate at least one drawback of the prior art.

[0025] This disclosure discloses a layered display panel extending to first and second portions of at least one transverse surface and receiving electromagnetic (EM) signals through the second portion. The layer surface of the first portion has a closed coating of a deposited material. The second portion does not have such a closed coating. The second portion may comprise a nucleation suppression coating (NIC). The initial adhesion probability for depositing the deposited material onto the NIC surface in the first portion may be substantially less than 0.3 and / or less than the initial adhesion probability for depositing the deposited material onto the layer surface. The second portion may comprise at least one particle structure made of the deposited material. The second portion may comprise a UVA absorbing layer. The second portion may comprise a low refractive index coating and a high refractive index medium extending along the surface of the low refractive index coating, the refractive index of the low refractive index coating may be less than the refractive index of the high refractive index medium. The first portion may comprise emission regions for emitting EM signals. The panel may comprise a substrate and a semiconductor layer. Each emission region may comprise first and second electrodes. The first electrode is located between the substrate and the semiconductor layer, and the semiconductor layer is located between the first and second electrodes.

[0026] A broad aspect of the present disclosure is disclosed, a display panel having multiple layers and extending to a first and second portion of at least one transverse plane defined by a transverse axis, wherein the panel is adapted to receive at least one electromagnetic (EM) signal through the second portion at an angle to the layers for replacement with at least one under-display component, the panel comprising at least one closed coating of a deposited material disposed on the exposed layer surface of the panel in the first portion, and the second portion substantially lacking a closed coating of the deposited material.

[0027] In some non-limiting embodiments, at least one under-display component may include at least one of a receiving unit adapted to receive at least one EM signal that passes through the panel beyond the user device, and a transmitting unit adapted to emit it.

[0028] In a broader aspect of the present disclosure, a display panel is disclosed having multiple layers and extending to a first and second portion of at least one transverse plane defined by a transverse axis, wherein the panel is adapted to receive at least one electromagnetic (EM) signal through the second portion at an angle to the layers, and comprises at least one closed coating of a deposited material disposed on the exposed layer surface of the panel in the first portion, the second portion substantially lacking a closed coating of the deposited material.

[0029] In some non-limiting embodiments, the panel may further comprise a nucleation suppression coating (NIC) on the exposed layer surface of the panel in the second portion, and the initial adhesion probability for depositing the material onto the surface of the NIC in the first portion may be substantially less than at least one of 0.3 and the initial adhesion probability for depositing the material onto the exposed layer surface.

[0030] In some non-limiting embodiments, the second part may comprise at least one particle structure made of a sedimentary material.

[0031] In some non-limiting embodiments, the second portion may comprise a UVA absorbing layer.

[0032] In some non-limiting embodiments, the panel may further comprise a low refractive index coating disposed on the exposed layer surface of the panel in a second portion, and a high refractive index medium extending along the surface of the low refractive index coating, wherein the refractive index of the low refractive index coating is less than the refractive index of the high refractive index medium.

[0033] In some non-limiting embodiments, the deposited material may contain at least one of silver (Ag) and ytterbium (Yb).

[0034] In some non-limiting embodiments, the average film thickness of at least one closed coating may be approximately 5–80 nm.

[0035] In some non-limiting embodiments, the first portion may comprise at least one emission region for emitting an EM signal at an angle to the layer.

[0036] In some non-limiting embodiments, the panel may further comprise a substrate and at least one semiconductor layer disposed on the substrate, wherein each emission region comprises a first electrode and a second electrode, the first electrode disposed between the substrate and at least one semiconductor layer, and the at least one semiconductor layer disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode.

[0037] In some non-limiting embodiments, the second electrode may include at least one closed coating of the deposited material.

[0038] In some non-limiting embodiments, the exposed layer surface of the panel may be the exposed layer surface of at least one semiconductor layer. In some non-limiting embodiments, the substrate may extend substantially continuously across both the first and second portions. In some non-limiting embodiments, at least one semiconductor layer may extend substantially continuously across both the first and second portions.

[0039] In some non-limiting embodiments, the first part may comprise a plurality of emission regions. In some non-limiting embodiments, the first part may comprise at least one non-emission region between adjacent emission regions. In some non-limiting embodiments, the second part may substantially lack any emission regions.

[0040] In some non-limiting embodiments, the panel may further comprise at least one coating layer disposed on the exposed layer surface of at least one closed coating in the first portion and on the exposed layer surface of the panel in the second portion.

[0041] In a broader aspect of the present disclosure, a user device is disclosed, comprising: a display panel having a plurality of layers and extending to a first and second portion of at least one transverse plane defined by a transverse axis; and at least one under-display component adapted to exchange at least one electromagnetic (EM) signal through the second portion of the panel at an angle to the layers, wherein the panel comprises at least one closed coating of a deposited material disposed on the exposed layer surface of the panel in the first portion, and the second portion substantially lacks a closed coating of the deposited coating.

[0042] The examples are described above in conjunction with the embodiments of the present disclosure in which they can be carried out. Those skilled in the art will understand that the examples may be carried out in conjunction with the embodiments described, but may also be carried out in conjunction with other embodiments of that embodiment or another embodiment. Where the examples are mutually exclusive or otherwise incompatible with one another, this will be obvious to those skilled in the art. Some examples may be described in relation to one embodiment, but as will be obvious to those skilled in the art, they may also be applicable to other embodiments.

[0043] Some aspects or embodiments of the present disclosure may provide a layered display panel that extends to first and second portions of at least one transverse surface and receives EM signals through the second portion. The layered surface of the first portion has a closed coating of a deposited material. The second portion does not have such a closed coating. The present invention provides, for example, the following: (Item 1) A display panel having multiple layers and extending to a first and second portion of at least one transverse surface defined by a transverse axis, wherein the panel is adapted to receive at least one electromagnetic (EM) signal through the second portion at an angle to the layers for replacement with at least one under-display component, and the panel comprises at least one closed coating of a deposited material disposed on the exposed layer surface of the panel in the first portion. The second portion is a display panel substantially lacking a closed coating of the deposited material. (Item 2) The at least one under-display component is A receiving unit adapted to receive the at least one EM signal that passes through the panel beyond the user device, A transmitter adapted to emit light, and at least one of the following: The panel described in item 1. (Item 3) A display panel having multiple layers and extending to a first and second portion of at least one transverse surface defined by a transverse axis, wherein the panel is adapted to receive at least one electromagnetic (EM) signal through the second portion at an angle to the layers, and comprises at least one closed coating of a deposited material disposed on the exposed layer surface of the panel in the first portion. The second portion is a display panel substantially lacking a closed coating of the deposited material. (Item 4) The second portion further comprises a nucleation suppression coating (NIC) on the exposed layer surface of the panel, and the initial adhesion probability for depositing the deposition material on the surface of the NIC in the first portion is, 0.3 and, The panel according to item 3, wherein the initial adhesion probability for depositing the deposit material onto the surface of the exposed layer is substantially smaller than at least one of the following: (Item 5) The panel according to item 3 or 4, wherein the second portion comprises at least one particle structure made of the sedimentary material. (Item 6) The second part described above is a panel as described in any one of items 3 to 5, comprising a UVA absorbing layer. (Item 7) The panel according to any one of items 3 to 6, further comprising a low refractive index coating disposed on the exposed layer surface of the panel in the second portion, and a high refractive index medium extending along the surface of the low refractive index coating, wherein the refractive index of the low refractive index coating is less than the refractive index of the high refractive index medium. (Item 8) The panel according to any one of items 3 to 7, wherein the deposited material comprises at least one of silver (Ag) and ytterbium (Yb). (Item 9) The panel according to any one of items 3 to 8, wherein the average thickness of at least one closed coating is approximately 5 to 80 nm. (Item 10) The panel according to any one of items 3 to 9, wherein the first portion comprises at least one emission region for emitting an EM signal at an angle to the layer. (Item 11) circuit board and At least one semiconductor layer disposed on the substrate, Furthermore, Each emission region comprises a first electrode and a second electrode, the first electrode being disposed between the substrate and the at least one semiconductor layer. The panel according to item 10, wherein the at least one semiconductor layer is disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode. (Item 12) The panel according to item 11, wherein the second electrode comprises the at least one closed coating of the deposited material. (Item 13) The panel according to item 11 or 12, wherein the exposed layer surface of the panel is the exposed layer surface of the at least one semiconductor layer. (Item 14) The panel according to any one of items 11 to 13, wherein the substrate extends substantially continuously across both the first and second portions. (Item 15) The panel according to item 14, wherein the at least one semiconductor layer extends substantially continuously across both the first and second portions. (Item 16) The first part described above is a panel as described in any one of items 11 to 14, comprising multiple emission regions. (Item 17) The panel according to item 16, wherein the first portion comprises at least one non-emitting region between adjacent emitting regions. (Item 18) The second portion described above is a panel as described in any one of items 11-17, which substantially lacks an emission area. (Item 19) The panel according to any one of items 4 to 18, further comprising at least one coating layer disposed on the exposed layer surface of the at least one closed coating in the first portion and on the exposed layer surface of the panel in the second portion. (Item 20) It is a user device, A display panel having multiple layers and extending to a first and second portion of at least one lateral surface defined by a horizontal axis, The panel comprises at least one under-display component adapted to exchange at least one electromagnetic (EM) signal through the second portion of the panel at an angle to the layer, The panel comprises at least one closed coating of a deposit material disposed on the exposed layer surface of the panel in the first portion, The second part is a user device substantially lacking the closed coating of the deposited coating. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0044] Herein, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described by reference to the following figures, where the same reference numerals in different figures indicate the same elements, and / or similar and / or corresponding elements in some non-limiting embodiments.

[0045] [Figure 1] i. This is an exemplary energy profile illustrating the relative energy states of adsorbed atoms adsorbed on a surface according to the embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 2] This is a schematic diagram illustrating the formation of membrane nuclei according to the embodiments of this disclosure. [Figure 3A] This is a simplified block diagram from a cross-section of an exemplary display panel having multiple layers, including a first portion and a second portion of blind hole areas on the lateral surface, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 3B] This is a schematic diagram showing an exemplary user device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the surface of the exemplary user device which includes the device shown in Figure 3A as the display of the user device, and the exemplary location of the blind hole region on this surface. [Figure 3C] This is a simplified block diagram, taken from a cross-sectional view, of an exemplary version of a user device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 4]This is a simplified block diagram from a cross-section of a portion of the device in Figure 3A, showing the emission region and the surrounding non-emission region. [Figure 5] This is a simplified block diagram from a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of a part of the device of Figure 3A according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, which shows various layers of the display of the device, including a blind hole region inside.

[0046] In this disclosure, a reference number having one or more numbers (including but not limited to subscripts) and / or lowercase alphabetic characters appended to those numbers may be considered to refer to a specific instance and / or a subset of a specific instance of the element or feature described by the reference number. Referring to a reference number without referring to the appended values ​​and / or characters may, as the context indicates, generally refer to the element or feature described by the reference number and / or the set of all instances described by the reference number.

[0047] This disclosure includes, but is not limited to, specific details to provide a complete understanding of the disclosure, including, but not limited to, specific architectures, interfaces, and / or techniques. In some cases, detailed descriptions of well-known systems, technologies, components, devices, circuits, methods, and applications have been omitted to avoid obscuring the description of the disclosure with unnecessary details.

[0048] Furthermore, it will be understood that the block diagrams reproduced herein may represent conceptual diagrams of exemplary components that embody the principles of the technology.

[0049] Accordingly, the components of the system and method are appropriately represented by conventional symbols in the drawings, and only these specific details relevant to understanding the examples of this disclosure are shown so as not to obscure this disclosure with details that would be readily apparent to a person skilled in the art who has an interest in the explanation herein.

[0050] None of the drawings provided herein are drawn to scale and shall not be deemed to limit this disclosure in any way.

[0051] Any feature or effect indicated by a dashed outline may be considered optional in some cases. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0052] explanation This disclosure generally relates to display panels that may include electronic devices and, more specifically, optoelectronic devices. Optoelectronic devices generally include any devices that convert electrical signals to photons and vice versa.

[0053] Those skilled in the art will understand that although this disclosure concerns optoelectronic devices, the principle may be applicable to any panel having multiple layers through which an electromagnetic (EM) signal can pass completely or partially at an angle to at least one plane of the layers.

[0054] Formation of thin films The formation of a thin film during deposition on the exposed layer surface 11 of the base material involves a process of nucleation and growth.

[0055] During the initial stages of film formation, a sufficient number of vapor monomers (which in some non-limiting embodiments may be molecules and / or atoms of the deposited material in vapor form) may typically condense from the gas phase to form initial nuclei on the exposed layer surface 11 of the base layer. As vapor monomers continue to collide with such surfaces, the characteristic size S1 and / or deposition density of these initial nuclei may increase, forming smaller particles. Non-limiting embodiments of the dimensions indicated by such characteristic size S1 may include the height, width, length, and / or diameter of such particles.

[0056] After reaching saturation island density, adjacent particles typically begin to coalesce, increasing the average characteristic size S1 of such particles while decreasing the island's sediment density.

[0057] As monomer deposition continues, the aggregation of adjacent particles may continue until a substantially closed coating can finally be deposited on the exposed layer surface 11 of the base material. The behavior of such a closed coating, including the resulting optical effects, can generally be relatively uniform, consistent, and unsurprising.

[0058] In some non-limiting embodiments, there may be at least three basic growth modes for forming thin films that become closed coatings: 1) island (Volmer-Weber), 2) layer-by-layer (Frank-van der Merwe), and 3) Stranski-Krastanov.

[0059] Island growth typically occurs when stable clusters of monomers nucleate on the exposed layer surface 11 and grow to form discrete islands. This growth mode can occur when the interactions between monomers are stronger than the interactions between monomers and the surface.

[0060] The nucleation rate can explain how many nuclei of a given size (where free energy pushes such clusters of nuclei without causing them to grow or contract) ("critical nuclei") exist on the surface per unit time. During the initial stages of film formation, the density of nuclei deposition is low, and this allows the nuclei to cover a relatively small fraction of the surface (e.g., there are large gaps / spaces between adjacent nuclei), making it unlikely that nuclei will grow from direct collisions of monomers with the surface. Therefore, the rate at which critical nuclei can grow can usually depend on the rate at which adsorbed atoms on the surface (e.g., adsorbed monomers) migrate and attach to nearby nuclei.

[0061] Figure 1 illustrates an example of the energy profile of adsorbed atoms adsorbed on the exposed layer surface 11 of the base material. Specifically, Figure 1 illustrates exemplary qualitative energy profiles corresponding to adsorbed atoms detaching from local low-energy sites (110), diffusion of adsorbed atoms on the exposed layer surface 11 (120), and desorption of adsorbed atoms (130).

[0062] In 110, local low-energy sites can be any site on the exposed layer surface 11 of the base layer where the adsorbed atoms are at a lower energy. Typically, nucleation sites may include defects and / or anomalies on the exposed layer surface 11, including but not limited to ledges, step edges, chemical impurities, binding sites, and / or kinks (heterogeneity).

[0063] The site of substrate non-uniformity is E des This can increase the amount of nuclei observed at such sites, leading to higher depositional densities. Also, surface impurities or contaminants can contribute to the E des This can increase the density of the nuclei deposited. In the case of deposition processes carried out under high vacuum conditions, the type of contaminants on the surface and the deposition density can be influenced by the vacuum pressure and the composition of the residual gases that make up that pressure.

[0064] When adsorbed atoms are trapped at a local low-energy site, in some non-limiting embodiments, there can typically be an energy barrier before surface diffusion occurs. Such an energy barrier can be represented as ΔE in Figure 1. In some non-limiting embodiments, if the energy barrier ΔE for detachment from the local low-energy site is sufficiently large, that site can act as a nucleation site.

[0065] At 120, the adsorbed atoms can diffuse onto the exposed layer surface 11. In a non-limiting embodiment, in the case of localized adsorbents, the adsorbed atoms may oscillate near the minimum surface potential and tend to move to various neighboring sites until they desorb and / or are incorporated into growing islands and / or growing films formed by clusters of adsorbed atoms. In Figure 1, the activation energy associated with surface diffusion of adsorbed atoms is E s It can be expressed as follows.

[0066] At 130, the activation energy associated with the desorption of adsorbed atoms from the surface is E descan be represented as. Those skilled in the art will understand that any adsorbed atoms that have not desorbed can remain on the exposed layer surface 11. As a non-limiting example, such adsorbed atoms can diffuse on the exposed layer surface 11, become part of a cluster of adsorbed atoms that form islands on the exposed layer surface 11, and / or be incorporated as part of the growing film and / or coating.

[0067] After an adsorbed atom adsorbs onto the surface, the adsorbed atom can desorb from the surface or move a certain distance on the surface before desorbing, interacting with other adsorbed atoms to form small clusters, or attaching to a growing nucleus. The average time that an adsorbed atom remains on the surface after initial adsorption can be given as follows.

Number

[0068] In the above equation, ν is the vibration frequency of the adsorbed atoms on the surface, k is the Boltzmann constant, T is the temperature, and E des is the energy involved in desorbing the adsorbed atoms from the surface. From this equation, it can be seen that the lower the value of E des , the easier it is for the adsorbed atoms to desorb from the surface, so the time that the adsorbed atoms can remain on the surface becomes shorter. The average distance that an adsorbed atom can diffuse can be given as follows.

Number

[0069] During the initial stage of the formation of the deposited layer of particles, the adsorbed atoms that have adsorbed can interact to form particles, and the critical concentration of particles per unit area is given as follows.

number

number

number

[0070] The critical monomer supply rate for growing particles can be determined by the rate of vapor collisions and the average area over which adsorbed atoms can diffuse before desorption.

number

[0071] Therefore, the critical nucleation rate can be given by a combination of the above equations.

number

[0072] From the above equation, it can be seen that the critical nucleation rate can be suppressed on surfaces where the desorption energy of adsorbed atoms is low, the activation energy of diffusion of adsorbed atoms is high, the surface is hot, and / or the surface is exposed to vapor collision velocities.

[0073] Under high vacuum conditions, the flux (cm) of molecules colliding with the surface 2 The values ​​per second can be given as follows:

number

[0074] In this disclosure, “nucleation suppression” can mean a coating, material, and / or layer thereof having a surface that exhibits an initial adhesion probability S0 for the deposition of a deposit material 426 (including, in some non-limiting embodiments, a deposit coating 325 that may be formed of the deposit material 426) on the surface, the initial adhesion probability being close to 0, including, but not limited to, less than about 0.3, such that the deposition of the deposit material 426 (and / or deposit coating 325) on such a surface can be suppressed.

[0075] In this disclosure, “nucleation-facilitating” can mean a coating, material, and / or layer thereof having a surface that exhibits an initial adhesion probability S0 for the deposition of a deposit material 426 (including, but not limited to, a deposit coating 325 that may be formed of the deposit material 426 in some non-limiting embodiments), the initial adhesion probability being close to 1, including, but not limited to, greater than about 0.7, such that the deposition of the deposit material 426 (and / or deposit coating 325) on such a surface can be facilitated.

[0076] While we do not wish to be bound by any particular theory, it can be assumed that the shape and size of such nuclei, as well as their subsequent growth into particles and subsequent thin films, may depend on many factors, including but not limited to the interfacial tension between vapor, surfaces, and / or condensed film nuclei.

[0077] One measure of the surface nucleation suppression and / or nucleation promotion properties may be the initial adhesion probability S0 of the surface for a given deposited material 426 constituting the (conductive) deposited coating 325.

[0078] In some non-restrictive embodiments, the adhesion probability S may be given by the following:

number

[0079] The adhesion probability S of deposit materials on various surfaces can be evaluated using a variety of techniques for measuring adhesion probability S, including, but not limited to, the dual quartz crystal microbalancing (QCM) technique described by Walker et al., J. Phys. Chem. C 2007, 111, 765 (2006).

[0080] As the deposition density of the deposition material 426 (including, but not limited to, the deposition coating 325 formed by the deposition material 426) increases (for example, as the average film thickness d increases), the adhesion probability S may change.

[0081] Therefore, the initial adhesion probability S0 can be specified as the adhesion probability S of the surface before any significant number of critical nuclei are formed. One measure of the initial adhesion probability S0 may be the adhesion probability S of the surface for the deposited material 426 during the initial stage of deposition of the deposited material 426, where the average thickness d of the deposited material 426 across the surface is less than or equal to a threshold. In the description of some non-limiting embodiments, the threshold for the initial adhesion probability S0 may be specified as 1 nm, as in non-limiting embodiments. Then, the average adhesion probability

number

number

[0082] In non-limiting embodiments, a low initial adhesion probability S0 may increase as the average film thickness d increases. This can be understood based on the difference in adhesion probability S between the area of ​​a particle-free surface, in non-limiting embodiments, a bare substrate 10, and the area of ​​a high deposition density. In non-limiting embodiments, monomers colliding with the surface of particles may have an adhesion probability S close to 1.

[0083] Based on the energy profiles 110, 120, and 130 shown in Figure 1, the relatively low activation energy (E) for detachment is des ), and / or relatively high activation energy (E) for surface diffusion s A material exhibiting the following characteristics can be deposited as NIC material 416 and is considered suitable for use in a variety of applications.

[0084] While we do not wish to be bound by any particular theory, in some non-restrictive embodiments, it can be assumed that the relationships between the various interfacial tensions present during nucleation and growth can be determined according to Young's equation in capillary management theory.

number

[0085] Based on Young's equation, in the case of island growth, the contact angle θ of the membrane nucleus is greater than 0, and therefore γ sγ <γ fs +γvf It can be derived that this is possible.

[0086] In the case of layer growth where the deposited material 426 "wets" the substrate 10, the nuclear contact angle θ is equal to 0, and therefore γ sγ =γ fs +γ vf It is possible.

[0087] In the case of Stranski-Krastanov (SK) growth, the strain energy per unit area of ​​film overgrowth is large relative to the interfacial tension between the vapor and the deposited material 426, γ sγ >γ fs +γ vf That is the case.

[0088] While we do not wish to be bound by any particular theory, it can be assumed that the nucleation and growth modes of the deposited material 426 (including, but not limited to, the deposited coating 325 formed by the deposited material 426) at the interface between the NIC material 416 and the exposed layer surface 11 of the substrate 10 may follow an island growth model when θ > 0.

[0089] In particular, if the NIC material 416 exhibits a relatively low initial adhesion probability S0 to the deposited material 426 (under conditions identified by the double QCM technique described by Walker et al. in some non-limiting embodiments), the thin-film contact angle θ of the deposited material 426 may be relatively high.

[0090] Conversely, in non-limiting embodiments, if the deposited material 426 can be selectively deposited on the surface without using the NIC material 416 by employing a shadow mask, the nucleation and growth modes of such deposited material 426 may differ. In particular, it has been observed that coatings formed using the shadow mask patterning process can exhibit a relatively low thin-film contact angle θ of less than about 10°, at least in some non-limiting embodiments.

[0091] Somewhat surprisingly, in some non-limiting embodiments, it was found that (nucleation-suppressing) NIC410 (and / or the NIC material 416 constituting NIC410) could exhibit relatively low critical surface tensions.

[0092] Those skilled in the art will understand that the "surface energy" of a coating, layer, and / or the material constituting such a coating and / or layer can generally correspond to the critical surface tension of the coating, layer, and / or material. According to some models of surface energy, the critical surface tension of a surface can substantially correspond to the surface energy of such a surface.

[0093] Generally, materials with low surface energy may exhibit low intermolecular forces. Generally, materials with low intermolecular forces may crystallize or undergo other phase transitions more readily at lower temperatures compared to other materials with higher intermolecular forces. In at least some applications, materials that crystallize or undergo other phase transitions readily at relatively low temperatures may be detrimental to the long-term performance, stability, reliability, and / or lifespan of devices.

[0094] While we do not wish to be bound by any particular theory, it can be assumed that certain low-energy surfaces may exhibit a relatively low initial adhesion probability S0 and therefore may be suitable for forming the NIC material 416.

[0095] While we do not wish to be bound by any particular theory, it can be assumed that critical surface tension is positively correlated with surface energy, especially for low surface energy surfaces. For example, a surface exhibiting relatively low critical surface tension may also exhibit relatively low surface energy, and a surface exhibiting relatively high critical surface tension may also exhibit relatively high surface energy.

[0096] Referring to Young's equation mentioned above, a lower surface energy results in a larger contact angle θ, and also, γ svThis can reduce the likelihood that such a surface will have low wettability and a low initial adhesion probability S0 to the deposited material 426.

[0097] In various non-limiting embodiments, the critical surface tension values ​​described herein may correspond to such values ​​measured near ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure (NTP), which in some non-limiting embodiments may correspond to a temperature of 20°C and an absolute pressure of 1 atmosphere. In some non-limiting embodiments, the critical surface tension of a surface may be determined according to the Zisman method, as further described in Zisman, WA, “Advances in Chemistry” 43 (1964), pp. 1-51.

[0098] In some non-limiting embodiments, the exposed layer surface 11 of the NIC material 416 may exhibit a critical surface tension of less than about 20 dynes / cm, less than about 19 dynes / cm, less than about 18 dynes / cm, less than about 17 dynes / cm, less than about 16 dynes / cm, less than about 15 dynes / cm, less than about 13 dynes / cm, less than about 12 dynes / cm, or less than about 11 dynes / cm.

[0099] In some non-limiting embodiments, the exposed layer surface 11 of the NIC material 416 may exhibit a critical surface tension of more than about 6 dynes / cm, more than about 7 dynes / cm, more than about 8 dynes / cm, more than about 9 dynes / cm, or more than about 10 dynes / cm.

[0100] Those skilled in the art will understand that various methods and theories are known for determining the surface energy of a solid. In a non-limiting embodiment, the surface energy may be calculated and / or derived based on a series of measurements of the contact angle θ, in which case various liquids are brought into contact with the solid surface and the contact angle θ between the gas-liquid interface and the surface is measured. In some non-limiting embodiments, the surface energy of a solid surface may be equal to the surface tension of a liquid that has the highest surface tension to completely wet the surface. In a non-limiting embodiment, a Zisman plot may be used to determine the highest surface tension value that would result in a 0° contact angle θ of the surface.

[0101] While we do not wish to be bound by any particular theory, in some non-limiting embodiments, the contact angle θ of the deposited coating 325 may be determined at least in part on the properties (including, but not limited to, the initial adhesion probability S0) of the NIC material 416 on which the deposited material 426 is deposited. Thus, a patterning material 316 that allows for the selective deposition of the deposited material 426 exhibiting a relatively high contact angle θ may offer several advantages.

[0102] As will be understood by those skilled in the art, a NIC material 416 exhibiting a combination of (i) a relatively low surface tension, for example, about 19 dynes / cm or more or about 15 dynes / cm or more, (ii) a relatively low refractive index n in the visible wavelength range, for example, about 1.45 or less or about 1.35 or less, and (iii) a relatively low attenuation coefficient in the visible wavelength range, for example, about 0.05 or less or about 0.01 or less, is suitable for patterning the metal deposition material 426 and, in particular, can enable remarkable light transmittance when the NIC material 416 forms an interface with a layer having a high critical surface tension, for example, about 30 dynes / cm or more or about 300 dynes / cm or more.

[0103] Those skilled in the art will understand that the contact angle θ can be measured using a variety of methods, including but not limited to static and / or dynamic droplet and suspension droplet methods.

[0104] In some non-limiting embodiments, the activation energy of detachment (E des (In some non-limiting embodiments, at a temperature T of about 300K) the thermal energy (k B The activation energy of surface diffusion (E) may be less than approximately 2 times, less than approximately 1.5 times, less than approximately 1.3 times, less than 1.2 times, less than approximately 1.0 times, less than approximately 0.8 times, or less than approximately 0.5 times. In some non-limiting embodiments, the activation energy of surface diffusion (E) may be less than approximately 2 times, less than approximately 1.5 times, less than approximately 1.3 times, less than 1.2 times, less than approximately 1.0 times, less than approximately 0.8 times, or less than approximately 0.5 times. s (In some non-limiting embodiments, at a temperature T of about 300K) the thermal energy (k B It may be more than 1.0 times, more than 1.5 times, more than 1.8 times, more than 2 times, more than 3 times, more than 5 times, more than 7 times, or more than 10 times T).

[0105] While we do not wish to be bound by any particular theory, it can be assumed that during the nucleation and growth of the deposited material 426 at and / or near the interface between the exposed surface 11 of the base layer and the NIC material 416, a relatively high contact angle θ between the edge of the deposited material 426 and the base layer may be observed due to the suppression of nucleation of the solid surface of the deposited material 426 by the NIC 410. Such nucleation suppression attributes may be driven by minimizing the surface energy between the base layer, the thin film vapor, and the NIC 410.

[0106] One measure of a surface's nucleation-inhibiting and / or nucleation-promoting attribute may be the initial deposition rate of a given (conductive) deposition material 426 on a surface relative to the initial deposition rate of the same conductive deposition material 426 on a reference surface, both of which are exposed to and / or exposed to the evaporation flux of the (conductive) deposition material 426.

[0107] Display panel Referring here to Figure 3A, a cross-sectional view of an exemplary layered device, such as a display device 310, is shown. In some non-limiting embodiments, as shown in more detail in Figure 4, the display panel 310 may comprise a plurality of layers deposited on the substrate 10, with the highest point being the outermost layer forming the surface 301 of the display panel 310.

[0108] A horizontal axis, identified as the X-axis, is shown together with a vertical axis, identified as the Z-axis. A second horizontal axis, identified as the Y-axis, is shown substantially crossing both the X-axis and the Z-axis. At least one of the horizontal axes may define the lateral plane of the display panel 310. The vertical axis may define the transverse plane of the display panel 310.

[0109] The layers of the display panel 310 may extend in a lateral plane substantially parallel to the plane defined by the transverse axis. Those skilled in the art will understand that such a substantially planar representation is an abstraction for illustrative purposes in some non-limiting embodiments. In some non-limiting embodiments, over the lateral extent of the display panel 310, there may be localized substantially planar layers of different thicknesses and dimensions, including substantially complete absence of layers and / or layers separated by non-planar transition regions (including lateral gaps and planar discontinuities).

[0110] Therefore, for illustrative purposes, the display panel 310 is shown in its cross-section as a substantially layered structure of substantially parallel planar layers, but such a display panel may locally illustrate a variety of topographies for defining feature areas, each of which may substantially exhibit the layered profile discussed in cross-section.

[0111] The surface 301 of the display panel 310 extends substantially along a plane defined by the horizontal axis, across the lateral surface of the display panel 310.

[0112] The lateral surface of the display panel 310 can be understood to include at least one first portion 311 and at least one second portion 312. Each of the at least one second portion 312 corresponds to a blind hole area 313.

[0113] In some non-limiting embodiments, the display panel 310 acts as a surface 301 of a user device 400 that houses at least one under-display component 330, and at least one EM signal 331 can be exchanged through the surface 301 at an angle to the layer of the surface 301.

[0114] In some non-limiting embodiments, there may be at least one blind hole area 313 on the display panel 310. As shown in various examples in the figure, in some non-limiting embodiments, the at least one blind hole area 313 may be located close to the edge of the display panel 310.

[0115] Referring now to Figure 3B, a schematic diagram showing an exemplary view of an exemplary user device 300 is shown. In the plan view of Figure 3B, a pair of horizontal axes, identified as the X-axis and Y-axis, are shown, which in some non-limiting embodiments may substantially intersect each other.

[0116] On at least one of the such surfaces 300 of the user device 400, there is a display, which in some non-limiting embodiments may be a display panel 310 as shown in Figure 3A. On at least one of the such surfaces 300, there may be at least one blind hole area 313. As shown in various embodiments of the figures, in some non-limiting embodiments, at least one blind hole area 313 may be located at the edge of the surface 301.

[0117] In some non-limiting embodiments, as shown in the first two embodiments of the figure, the blind hole region 313 a ,313 b This may correspond to a blind hole region 313 that is substantially circular when viewed from above and substantially cylindrical in cross-section. In some non-limiting embodiments, the blind hole region 313 may be as shown in the third embodiment in the figure. c It may have different configurations, including but not limited to an elongated elliptical configuration when viewed from above.

[0118] In some non-limiting embodiments, the cross-sectional dimensions of the blind hole region 313 may be on the order of a few millimeters, corresponding to the size of the cross-sectional area of ​​the active sensor and / or emitter region of the associated under-display component 330.

[0119] In some non-limiting embodiments, the user device 400 may be a computing device such as a smartphone, tablet, laptop, and / or an electronic reader, and / or several other electronic devices such as smart devices, including but not limited to monitors, television sets, and / or automotive displays and / or windshields, home appliances, and / or medical, commercial, and / or industrial devices.

[0120] In some non-limiting embodiments, the surface 301 may correspond to and / or fit into the body 320 and / or an opening 321 within the body 320, and at least one under-display component 330 may be housed within the body 320.

[0121] In some non-limiting embodiments, at least one under-display component 330 may be formed integrally with the display panel 310 on the surface opposite to the surface 301, or as an assembled module. In some non-limiting embodiments, at least one under-display component 330 may be formed on the surface of the substrate 10 of the display panel 310 opposite to the surface 301.

[0122] A blind hole region 313 defined by at least one second portion 312 of the display panel 310 allows for the exchange of at least one EM signal 331 through or in conjunction with a surface 301 of the display panel 310, or through layers of the display panel 310 including but not limited to the surface 301 of the display panel 310, at an angle with respect to a plane defined by the transverse axis.

[0123] In other words, at least one EM signal 331 passes through the blind hole region 313 of the second portion 312 so that the EM signal 331 passes through the surface 301. As a result, at least one EM signal 331 excludes any EM radiation that may spread along the lateral surface from the second portion 312 to the first portion 311 (or vice versa), including but not limited to any current that is guided along the lateral conductive coating on the display panel 310.

[0124] Furthermore, those skilled in the art will understand that at least one EM signal 331 can be distinguished from EM radiation itself, including but not limited to electric current and / or electric fields generated by electric current, in that at least one EM signal 331 transmits some informational content, including but not limited to identifiers that distinguish at least one EM signal 331 from other EM signals 331, either alone or in combination with other EM signals 331. In some non-limiting embodiments, the informational content may be transmitted by specifying, modifying, and / or modulating at least one of wavelength, frequency, phase, timing, bandwidth, resistance, capacitance, impedance, conductance, and / or other properties of at least one EM signal 331.

[0125] In some non-limiting embodiments, at least one EM signal 331 passing through the blind hole region 313 of the second portion 312 of the display panel 310 may include at least one photon and, in some non-limiting embodiments, may have a wavelength spectrum that is in but not limited to the visible spectrum, the IR spectrum, and / or the NIR spectrum.

[0126] In some non-limiting embodiments, photons passing through the blind hole region 313 of the second portion 312 of the display panel 310 may include ambient light incident on the blind hole region 313.

[0127] In some non-limiting embodiments, at least one EM signal 331 exchanged through a blind hole area 313 of a second portion 312 of the display panel 310 may be transmitted and / or received by at least one under-display component 331.

[0128] In some non-limiting embodiments, as shown in Figure 3C as a non-limiting embodiment, at least one under-display component 330 allows photons 331 to pass over the user device 400 and through the blind hole region 313 of the second portion 312 of the display panel 310. r ,332 r ,333 r ,334 r A receiving unit 330 adapted to receive and process at least one EM signal 331, including but not limited to these. r This may include such a receiving unit 330 r Non-limiting embodiments include under-display cameras (UDCs) and / or sensors including, but not limited to, IR sensors, NIR sensors, LIDAR sensors, fingerprint sensors, optical sensors, infrared proximity sensors, iris recognition sensors, and / or face recognition sensors.

[0129] In some non-limiting embodiments, as shown in Figure 3C as a non-limiting embodiment, at least one under-display component 330 allows photons 331 to pass through the blind hole region 313 of the second portion 312 of the display panel 310 beyond the user device 400. t ,332 t Transmitter 330 adapted to emit at least one EM signal 331, including but not limited to these. t This may include such a transmitting unit 330 t Non-limiting embodiments include light sources, including but not limited to built-in flashes, torches, IR emitters, and / or NIR emitters, and / or Lidar sensing modules, fingerprint sensing modules, optical sensors, IR sensors, iris recognition modules, and / or face recognition modules.

[0130] In some non-limiting embodiments, as shown in Figure 3C as a non-limiting embodiment, the transmitting unit 330 t Photons 331 that pass through the blind hole region 313 of the second portion 312 of the display panel 310 beyond the user device 400, including but not limited to photons emitted by at least one under-display component 330, including photons 331 r ,332 r ,333 e ,334 e At least one EM signal 331, including but not limited to, may be emitted from the display panel 310, reflected from the external surface 340 of the user device 400, and passed through the blind hole area 313 of the second portion 312 of the display panel 310 to the receiving unit 330. r It may return to at least one under-display component 330, including the following.

[0131] In some non-limiting embodiments, as shown in Figure 3C as a non-limiting embodiment, there may be a plurality of under-display components 330 within the user device 400, the first of which is a transmitter 330 for emitting at least one EM signal 331, including but not limited to photons, that passes through a blind hole region 313 of a second portion 312 of the display panel 310 beyond the user device 400. t The second of the multiple under-display components 330 is a receiving unit 330 for receiving at least one EM signal 331 which includes but is not limited to photons. r Includes.

[0132] Although not shown, in some non-limiting embodiments, such a transmitting unit 330 t and receiving unit 330 r This can be embodied in a single common element among at least one under-display component 330.

[0133] In some non-limiting embodiments, as shown in Figure 3C as a non-limiting embodiment, at least one under-display component 530 does not have to emit an EM signal 331 which includes but is not limited to photons, and the display panel 310 forming the surface 301 emits photons 333 e ,334 e The system may include, but is not limited to, photoluminescent devices, including, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) devices that emit light, as well as optoelectronic devices.

[0134] In some non-limiting embodiments, the emitted photon 333 e ,334 e These can be emitted by a first portion 311 of the lateral surface of the display panel 310 at an angle to the layers of the display panel 310, including but not limited to substantially the vertical surface.

[0135] In some non-limiting embodiments, the emitted photon 333 e ,334 e It is reflected on surface 340 and returned through display panel 310 to at least one under-display component 330 r It can be received by.

[0136] Referring now to Figure 4, a simplified block diagram from a cross-sectional view of a portion of the exemplary optoelectronic device 400 according to the present disclosure is shown. It will be understood that the portion of the device 400 shown largely corresponds to one (part of) one of at least one first portion 311 and one (part of) one of at least one second portion 312 of the display panel 310.

[0137] The device 400 may comprise a substrate 10 on which a front plane may be provided for providing a photon emission mechanism and / or for manipulating photons emitted when coupled to a power supply, in at least a first portion 311, each comprising a plurality of layers including a first electrode 404, at least one semiconductor layer 405, and a second electrode 406.

[0138] In some non-limiting embodiments, the substrate 10 may be formed of a material suitable for use with the substrate 10, including but not limited to inorganic materials including glass, sapphire, and / or other suitable inorganic materials, and / or organic materials including but not limited to polymers including polyimide and silicon-based polymers.

[0139] In some non-limiting embodiments, an additional layer may be provided between the substrate 10 and the first electrode 404, which may include a backplane layer and / or be formed as a backplane layer and / or be formed as a backplane layer. In some non-limiting embodiments, the backplane layer may include, but is not limited to, one or more electronic components and / or optoelectronic components for driving the device 400, which may include, but is not limited to, thin-film transistors (TFTs), resistors and / or capacitors (collectively referred to as TFT structures 401), which may be formed by a photolithography process in some non-limiting embodiments. In some non-limiting embodiments, such a TFT structure 401 comprises a semiconductor active region formed on a portion of a buffer layer, and a gate insulating layer deposited on the semiconductor active region may substantially cover the semiconductor active region. In some non-limiting embodiments, a gate electrode may be formed on the gate insulating layer, and an interlayer insulating layer may be deposited on the gate electrode.

[0140] In some non-limiting embodiments, at least one emission region 407 of the device 400 may be located within a first portion 311 of the lateral surface of the display panel 310. In some non-limiting embodiments, there may be multiple emission regions 407 within the first portion 311.

[0141] In contrast, the second portion 312 substantially lacks an emission region 407 to provide a blind hole region 313 in which at least one EM signal 331 can be exchanged.

[0142] Each emission region 407 comprises a first electrode 404 and a second electrode 406. At least one semiconductor layer 405 is located between the first electrode 404 and the second electrode 406.

[0143] In some non-limiting embodiments, the first electrode 404 and / or the second electrode 406 may correspond to an anode and a cathode, respectively, or vice versa. In some non-limiting embodiments, the first electrode 404 and / or the second electrode 406 may be electrically coupled to the terminals of a power supply and / or ground by at least one drive circuit, in some non-limiting embodiments, at least one TFT structure 401 may be incorporated into the backplane layer. In some non-limiting embodiments, the first electrode 404 may have an anode. In some non-limiting embodiments, the second electrode 406 may have a cathode.

[0144] In some non-limiting embodiments, each emission region 407 of device 400 is a single display pixel 408 p Corresponds to. In some non-limiting embodiments, each pixel 408 p It can emit light of a given wavelength spectrum. In some non-limiting embodiments, the wavelength spectrum may, but is not limited to, the colors of the visible spectrum.

[0145] In some non-limiting embodiments, each emission region 407 of device 400 is a display pixel 408 p subpixel 408 s This can correspond to multiple subpixels 408. In some non-limiting embodiments, multiple subpixels 408 s These combine to form a single display pixel of 408 p It may form or represent a single display pixel 408. p In some non-limiting embodiments, this refers to the R (red), G (green), and / or B (blue) subpixels 408. s Three or more subpixels 408 that can be useds It can be represented by:

[0146] In some non-limiting embodiments, given subpixel 408 s The emission spectrum of light emitted by subpixel 408 s This can correspond to the color shown.

[0147] In some non-limiting embodiments, individual emission regions 407 of the device 400 may be arranged in a transverse pattern on a first portion 311. In some non-limiting embodiments, the pattern may extend along a first transverse direction, which may extend along a first transverse axis in some non-limiting embodiments. In some non-limiting embodiments, the pattern may also extend along a second transverse direction, which may extend along a second transverse axis in some non-limiting embodiments.

[0148] A non-limiting example of such a pattern is schematically shown in Figure 5. However, for the sake of simplicity, subpixel 408 s Instead of showing each of the corresponding emission regions 407, subpixel 408 s The pattern is represented by the corresponding TFT structure 401, each of which is R (red) 408 R G (Green) 408 G , and B (blue) 408 B The associated subpixel 408 corresponds to the subpixel of s It will be labeled as follows.

[0149] Referring again to Figure 4, in some non-limiting embodiments, at least one semiconductor layer 405 may include multiple layers, including but not limited to one or more of the following: a hole injection layer (HIL), a hole transport layer (HTL), an emissive layer (EML), an electron transport layer (ETL), and / or an electron injection layer (EIL).

[0150] When a potential difference is applied to at least one semiconductor layer 405 through the first electrode 404 and the second electrode 406, holes can be injected into the at least one semiconductor layer 405 through the anode and electrons through the cathode until they can combine to form bound electron-hole pairs (excitons). In particular, when excitons are formed within the EML, the excitons can decay through a radiative recombination process in which photons are emitted.

[0151] In some non-limiting embodiments, various emission regions 407 of device 400 may be substantially surrounded and isolated by one or more non-emission regions 409 in at least one lateral direction, in which case the emission of photons from there may be substantially suppressed by modifying the structure and / or configuration along the longitudinal plane of device 400, including but not limited to removing at least one of the first electrode 404, the second electrode 406, and / or at least one semiconductor layer 405 between them.

[0152] In some non-limiting embodiments, the non-emission regions 409 may include in the lateral plane regions that substantially lack emission regions 407. In some non-limiting embodiments, at least a portion of at least one non-emission region 409 may correspond to a second portion 312 of the lateral plane.

[0153] In some non-limiting embodiments, TFT source and TFT drain electrodes can be formed for associated (sub)pixels 408, extending through openings formed through both the interlayer insulating layer and the gate insulating layer, thereby electrically coupling these TFT source and TFT drain electrodes, in some non-limiting embodiments, substantially lateral plane of the emission region 407 corresponding substantially to the opening, i.e., in the first portion 311, to the semiconductor active region. In some non-limiting embodiments, a TFT insulating layer 402 can then be formed on the TFT structure 401.

[0154] Therefore, in some non-limiting embodiments, the first electrode 404 may be disposed on the exposed layer surface 11 of the device 400 within at least a portion of the lateral surface of the emission region 407, i.e., in the first portion 311.

[0155] In some non-limiting embodiments, within the lateral plane of the emission region 407 of at least one (sub)pixel 408, the exposed layer surface 11 may comprise a TFT insulating layer 402 of various TFT structures 401 that constitute a driving circuit for the emission region 407 corresponding to a single display (sub)pixel 408. In some non-limiting embodiments, a first electrode 404 may extend through the TFT insulating layer 402 and be electrically coupled to a power supply terminal and / or ground by at least one driving circuit incorporating at least one TFT structure 401.

[0156] In the longitudinal plane, the configuration of each emission region 407 can be defined in some non-limiting embodiments by introducing at least one pixel definition layer (PDL) 403 substantially over the entirety of at least a portion of the transverse plane of the surrounding non-emission region 409. In some non-limiting embodiments, the cross-sectional thickness and / or profile of the PDL 403 can impart a substantially valley-shaped configuration to the emission region 407 of each (sub)pixel 408 by a region of increased thickness along the boundary between the transverse plane of the surrounding non-emission region 409 and the transverse plane of the surrounded emission region 407.

[0157] In some non-limiting embodiments, at least one semiconductor layer 405 may be deposited on the exposed layer surface 11 of the device 400 in at least a portion of the lateral surface of such emission region 407, and the device 400 may, in some non-limiting embodiments, include a first electrode 404 within at least a first portion 311.

[0158] At least one semiconductor layer 405 can be deposited on the first electrode 404 in at least the lateral plane of the emission region 407 corresponding to the semiconductor layer 405.

[0159] The blind hole region 313 is formed in the second portion 312 by making the second portion 312 substantially transparent to the EM signal 331 that passes through the blind hole region 313 and passes through the surface 301 at a certain angle to the layer of the display panel 310. In some non-limiting embodiments, such a second portion 312 may correspond to at least a portion of at least one non-emitting region 409.

[0160] Although not shown, in some non-limiting embodiments, the thickness of the PDL 403 in the second portion 312 of the TFT insulating layer 402, at least in the first portion 311, in a region laterally spaced from the neighboring emission region 407, and in some non-limiting embodiments, in the TFT insulating layer 402, can be reduced to increase transmittance through the PDL 403.

[0161] As shown, the lateral surface of at least one blind hole region 313 is substantially devoid of the TFT structure 401.

[0162] In some non-limiting embodiments, the possibility of interference with the transmittance of the EM signal 331 through the blind hole region 313 can be reduced, including but not limited to using a shadow mask by selectively omitting one or more of the at least one semiconductor layer 405 within at least one blind hole region 313 of the second portion 312.

[0163] Nucleation suppression coating (NIC) In some non-limiting embodiments, a nucleation suppression coating (NIC) 410 is formed on the exposed layer surface 11 of the second portion 312. In some non-limiting embodiments, the NIC is formed as a closed coating.

[0164] Regardless of whether a shadow mask is used, the NIC410 is substantially limited to a non-emitting region 409 in the lateral plane of the NIC410, including but not limited to the entirety of the second portion 312.

[0165] In some non-limiting embodiments, NIC410 and / or NIC material 416 may be substantially permeable.

[0166] The NIC 410 extends throughout the second portion 312, but in some non-limiting embodiments, the NIC material 416 may be selectively deposited over a portion of the first portion 311, including, but not limited to, defining feature portions within the first portion 311, including, but not limited to, defining one or more non-emission regions 409 surrounding the emission region 407 using a shadow mask. In some non-limiting embodiments, the lateral extent of this emission region 407 would substantially lack the NIC material 416. In some non-limiting embodiments, at least a portion of the lateral extent of the non-emission region may have the NIC material 416 selectively deposited over the portion.

[0167] In some non-limiting embodiments, the NIC 410 may provide a surface having a relatively low initial adhesion probability S0 for the deposition of the deposition material 426, and in some non-limiting embodiments, the initial adhesion probability S0 (for the deposition of the deposition material 426) of the exposed layer surface 11 of the base layer of the device 400 on which the NIC 410 is deposited may be substantially lower.

[0168] Due to the low initial adhesion probability S0 of NIC410 and / or NIC material 416, in some non-limiting embodiments, when the deposition material 426 is deposited within the device 400 as a film and / or coating and under similar conditions to the deposition of NIC410, NIC410 may substantially lack a closed coating of the deposition material 426.

[0169] In some non-limiting embodiments, when NIC 410 and / or NIC material 416 are deposited as a film and / or coating in some form and / or under similar conditions to the deposition of NIC 410 within device 400, they may have an initial deposition probability S0 for deposition of deposition material 426 (under the conditions identified in the dual QCM technique described by Walker et al. in some non-limiting embodiments), which is less than about 0.9, less than about 0.3, less than about 0.2, less than about 0.15, less than about 0.1, less than about 0.08, less than about 0.05, less than about 0.03, less than about 0.02, less than about 0.01, less than about 0.008, less than about 0.005, less than about 0.003, less than 0.001, less than about 0.0008, less than about 0.0005, less than about 0.0003, or less than about 0.0001.

[0170] In some non-limiting embodiments, when NIC 410 and / or NIC material 416 are deposited as a film and / or coating in some form and / or under similar conditions to the deposition of NIC 410 within device 400, they may have an initial deposition probability S0 for Ag and / or Mg deposition (under the conditions identified in the double QCM technique described by Walker et al. in some non-limiting embodiments), which is less than about 0.9, less than about 0.3, less than about 0.2, less than about 0.15, less than about 0.1, less than about 0.08, less than about 0.05, less than about 0.03, less than about 0.02, less than about 0.01, less than about 0.008, less than about 0.005, less than about 0.003, less than about 0.001, less than about 0.0008, less than about 0.0005, less than about 0.0003, or less than about 0.0001.

[0171] In some non-limiting embodiments, NIC 410 and / or in some non-limiting embodiments, within device 400, as a film and / or coating in some form, and when deposited under similar conditions to the deposition of NIC 410, NIC material 416 is approximately 0.15 to 0.0001, approximately 0.1 to 0.0003, and approximately 0.08 to 0.0005 relative to the deposition of deposited material 426. Approximately 0.08~0.0008, approximately 0.05~0.001, approximately 0.03~0.0001, approximately 0.03~0.0003, approximately 0.03~0.0005, approximately 0.03~0.0008, approximately 0.03~0.001, approximately 0.03~0.005, approximately 0.03~0.008, approximately 0.03~0.01, approximately 0.02~0.0001, approximately 0.02~0.0003, approximately 0.02~0.0005, approximately 0 0.02~0.0008, approximately 0.02~0.001, approximately 0.02~0.005, approximately 0.02~0.008, approximately 0.02~0.01, approximately 0.01~0.0001, approximately 0.01~0.0003, approximately 0.01~0.0005, approximately 0.01~0.0008, approximately 0.01~0.001, approximately 0.01~0.005, approximately 0.01~0.008, approximately 0.008~0.0001, approximately 0.00 The initial adhesion probability S0 may have values ​​of 8-0.0003, approximately 0.008-0.0005, approximately 0.008-0.0008, approximately 0.008-0.001, approximately 0.008-0.005, approximately 0.005-0.0001, approximately 0.005-0.0003, approximately 0.005-0.0005, approximately 0.005-0.0008, or approximately 0.005-0.001 (under the conditions identified by the dual QCM technique described by Walker et al. in some non-limiting embodiments). In some non-limiting embodiments, the deposited material 426 may be or contain Ag.

[0172] In some non-limiting embodiments, the NIC material 416, when deposited as a film and / or coating in some form and / or under similar conditions to the deposition of the NIC 410, in the NIC 410 and / or in some non-limiting embodiments within the device 400, may have an initial adhesion probability S0 below a threshold for the deposition of multiple deposition materials 426 (in some non-limiting embodiments, under conditions identified by the double QCM technique described by Walker et al.). In some non-limiting embodiments, the threshold may be about 0.3, about 0.2, about 0.18, about 0.15, about 0.13, about 0.1, about 0.08, about 0.05, about 0.03, about 0.02, about 0.01, about 0.08, about 0.005, about 0.003, or about 0.001.

[0173] In some non-limiting embodiments, NIC 410, and / or in some non-limiting embodiments, NIC material 416 when deposited as a film and / or coating in some form and / or under similar conditions to the deposition of NIC 410 within device 400, may have an initial adhesion probability S0 below a threshold for the deposition of two or more deposition materials 426 selected from Ag, Mg, Yb, Cd, and Zn (in some non-limiting embodiments, under conditions identified by the double QCM technique described by Walker et al.). In some further non-limiting embodiments, NIC 410 may exhibit an S0 below a threshold for two or more deposition materials 426 selected from Ag, Mg, and Yb.

[0174] In some non-limiting embodiments, the NIC material 416, when deposited as a film and / or coating in the NIC 410 and / or within the device 400, under similar conditions to the deposition of the NIC 410, may exhibit an initial adhesion probability S0 below a first threshold for the deposition of the first deposition material 426, and an initial adhesion probability S0 below a second threshold for the deposition of the second deposition material 426. In some non-limiting embodiments, the first deposition material 426 may be Ag, and the second deposition material 426 may be Mg. In some other non-limiting embodiments, the first deposition material 426 may be Ag, and the second deposition material 426 may be Yb. In some other non-limiting embodiments, the first deposition material 426 may be Yb, and the second deposition material 426 may be Mg. In some non-limiting embodiments, the first threshold may be greater than the second threshold.

[0175] In some non-limiting embodiments, NIC410, and / or in some non-limiting embodiments, within device 400, as a film and / or coating, and NIC material 416 when deposited under similar conditions to the deposition of NIC410, may have a (light) transmittance of a threshold transmittance value or higher after exposure to a vapor flux of Ag.

[0176] In some non-limiting embodiments, transmittance may be measured after the surface of NIC 410 and / or NIC material 416, formed as a thin film, is exposed to a vapor flux of Ag under typical conditions used to deposit electrodes for optoelectronic devices, which may be cathodes for OLED devices, in some non-limiting embodiments.

[0177] In some non-limiting embodiments, the conditions for exposing the surface to the Ag vapor flux may be as follows: (i) about 10 ー4 Torr or about 10 ー5(ii) the vacuum pressure of Torr, the Ag vapor flux substantially matches a reference deposition rate of about 1 angstrom (Å) / second, which in non-limiting examples can be monitored or measured using QCM, and (iii) the surface is exposed to the Ag vapor flux until a reference thickness of 15 nm is reached, and once such a reference thickness is achieved, the surface is no longer exposed to the Ag vapor flux.

[0178] In some non-limiting embodiments, the surface exposed to the Ag vapor flux may be substantially at room temperature (e.g., about 25°C). In some non-limiting embodiments, the surface exposed to the Ag vapor flux may be located about 65 cm away from the evaporation source from which the Ag evaporates.

[0179] In some non-limiting embodiments, the threshold transmittance value may be measured at wavelengths corresponding to the visible spectrum. In some non-limiting embodiments, the threshold transmittance value may be measured at a wavelength of about 460 nm. In some non-limiting embodiments, the threshold transmittance value may be expressed as a percentage of the incident electromagnetic power transmitted through the sample. In some non-limiting embodiments, the threshold transmittance value may be at least about 60%, about 65%, about 70%, about 75%, about 80%, about 85%, or about 90%.

[0180] In some non-limiting embodiments, there may be a positive correlation between the initial adhesion probability S0 of the NIC material 416 when deposited as a film and / or coating in some non-limiting embodiments, and when deposited under similar conditions to the deposition of the NIC 410 in the device 400, and the thickness of the deposited material 426 on the device 400.

[0181] Those skilled in the art will understand that high transmittance may generally indicate the absence of a closed coating of the deposited material 426, which may be Ag in non-limiting examples. On the other hand, since a thin metal film, especially when formed as a closed coating, can exhibit a high degree of light absorption, low transmittance may generally indicate the presence of a closed coating of the deposited material 426, which may include but not be limited to Ag, Mg, and / or Yb.

[0182] It is further assumed that a surface exhibiting a low initial adhesion probability S0 for a deposited material 426 containing but not limited to Ag, Mg, and / or Yb may exhibit high transmittance. On the other hand, a surface exhibiting a high adhesion probability S0 for a deposited material 426 containing but not limited to Ag, Mg, and / or Yb may exhibit low transmittance.

[0183] A series of samples were prepared, their transmittance measured, and their formation of a closed Ag coating was visually observed. Each sample was prepared by depositing a material coating approximately 50 nm thick onto a glass substrate, and then exposing the surface of the coating to an Ag vapor flux at a rate of approximately 1 Å / sec until a reference layer thickness of 15 nm was reached. Each sample was then visually analyzed, and the transmittance through each sample was measured.

[0184] The molecular structures of the materials used in some non-limiting examples of this specification are listed below. [Table 1-1] [Table 1-2] [Table 1-3]

[0185] Samples with a substantially closed coating of Ag were visually identified, and the presence of such coatings in these samples was further confirmed by measuring the transmittance, which showed a transmittance of 50% or less at a wavelength of 460 nm.

[0186] Samples without a closed coating of Ag were also visually identified, and the absence of such coatings in these samples was further confirmed by measuring the transmittance, which showed a transmittance of more than 70% at a wavelength of 460 nm.

[0187] The results are summarized in the following table.

Table 2

[0188] Based on the above, it was found that the materials used in the first seven samples (HT211 to Example Material 2) in the table may not be particularly suitable for suppressing the deposition of the deposition material 426 on the sample, including but not limited to Ag and / or Ag-containing materials.

[0189] On the other hand, Example Material 3 to Example Material 9 may be suitable as NIC410 for suppressing the deposition of the deposition material 426 on the sample, including but not limited to Ag and / or Ag-containing materials, in at least some applications.

[0190] In some non-limiting embodiments, in NIC410, and / or in some non-limiting embodiments, within device 400, when deposited in the form of a film and / or coating and under circumstances similar to the deposition of NIC410, the NIC material 416 may have a surface energy Y1 of less than about 24 dynes / cm, less than about 22 dynes / cm, less than about 20 dynes / cm, less than about 18 dynes / cm, less than about 16 dynes / cm, less than about 15 dynes / cm, less than about 13 dynes / cm, less than about 12 dynes / cm, or less than about 11 dynes / cm. In some non-limiting embodiments, the surface energy Y1 may exceed about 6 dynes / cm, about 7 dynes / cm, or about 8 dynes / cm. In some non-limiting embodiments, the surface energy Y1 may be about 10 - 20 dynes / cm, or about 13 - 19 dynes / cm. In some non-limiting embodiments, the critical surface tension of the surface can be determined according to the Zisman method, as further described in W.A. Zisman, Advances in Chemistry 43 (1964), P. 1 - 51.

[0191] As non-limiting examples, a series of samples were fabricated to measure the critical surface tension of surfaces formed by various materials. The measurement results are summarized below.

Table 3

[0192] Based on the above measurements of critical surface tension and previous observations regarding the presence or absence of a substantially closed coating of Ag, materials that form low surface energy surfaces, which can be surfaces having a critical surface tension of about 13 - 20 dynes / cm, or about 13 - 19 dynes / cm as non-limiting examples, when deposited as a coating, have been found to be particularly useful for forming NIC410 to suppress the deposition of the deposited material 426 on these surfaces, including but not limited to Ag and / or Ag-containing materials.

[0193] While we do not wish to be bound by any particular theory, as an unrestricted example, it can be assumed that, in certain applications, materials forming a surface with a surface energy of less than approximately 13 dynes / cm may not be sufficiently suitable as NIC material 410 because such materials may exhibit insufficient adhesion to surrounding layers, have a low melting point, and / or a low sublimation temperature.

[0194] In some non-limiting embodiments, NIC410, and / or in some non-limiting embodiments, NIC material 416 when deposited in device 400 as a film and / or coating in some form, and under similar conditions to the deposition of NIC410, may have a low refractive index n. In some non-limiting embodiments, NIC410, and / or in some non-limiting embodiments, NIC material 416 when deposited in device 400 as a film and / or coating in some form, and under similar conditions to the deposition of NIC410, may have a refractive index n for photons at a wavelength of 550 nm, which may be less than about 1.55, less than about 1.5, less than about 1.45, less than about 1.43, less than about 1.4, less than about 1.39, less than about 1.37, less than about 1.35, less than about 1.32, or less than about 1.3. While we do not wish to be bound by any particular theory, it has been observed that providing a NIC 410 with a low refractive index n can enhance the transmission of ambient light through the second portion 312 of the device 400 in at least some devices 400. In a non-limiting embodiment, a device 400 including a gap which may be located near or adjacent to the NIC 410 may exhibit higher transmittance compared to a similarly configured device 400 in which such a low-index NIC 410 is not provided, provided that the NIC 410 has a low refractive index n.

[0195] As a non-limiting example, a series of samples were prepared to measure the refractive index at a wavelength of 550 nm for coatings formed from several different materials. The measurement results are summarized below. [Table 4]

[0196] Based on the above measurements of refractive index n and previous observations regarding the presence or absence of a substantially closed Ag coating, it has been found that materials forming a low refractive index n coating, which may be a coating with a refractive index n of 1.4 or 1.38 or less as a non-limiting example, may be suitable for forming NIC410 to suppress the deposition of deposited material 426 on this coating, including but not limited to Ag and / or Ag-containing materials.

[0197] In some non-limiting embodiments, NIC410, and / or in some non-limiting embodiments, NIC material 416 when deposited in device 400 as a film and / or coating in some form, and under similar circumstances to the deposition of NIC410, may have an absorption coefficient k which may be less than about 0.01 for photons with wavelengths greater than at least one of about 600 nm, about 500 nm, about 460 nm, about 420 nm, or about 410 nm. In some non-limiting embodiments, NIC410, and / or in some non-limiting embodiments, NIC material 416 when deposited in device 400 as a film and / or coating in some form, and under similar circumstances to the deposition of NIC410, may not substantially attenuate light of at least the visible spectrum passing through NIC410 and / or NIC material 416. In some non-limiting embodiments, NIC 410 and / or in some non-limiting embodiments, NIC material 416, when deposited as a film and / or coating in device 400 and under similar circumstances to the deposition of NIC 410, can substantially attenuate at least IR spectral and / or NIR spectral light passing through NIC 410 and / or NIC material 416.

[0198] In some non-limiting embodiments, NIC410, and / or in some non-limiting embodiments, NIC material 416 when deposited in device 400 as a film and / or coating in some form, and under similar conditions to the deposition of NIC410, may have an absorption coefficient k that is greater than about 0.05, greater than about 0.1, greater than about 0.2, or greater than about 0.5 for photons with wavelengths shorter than at least about 400 nm, about 390 nm, about 380 nm, or about 370 nm. Thus, NIC410, and / or in some non-limiting embodiments, NIC material 416 when deposited in device 400 as a film and / or coating in some form, and under similar conditions to the deposition of NIC410, may absorb light in the UVA spectral light incident on the device, thereby reducing the possibility of UVA spectral light having undesirable effects in terms of device performance, device stability, device reliability, and / or device lifespan.

[0199] In some non-limiting embodiments, the NIC material 416, when deposited as a film and / or coating in some form within the device 400, and under similar conditions to the deposition of the NIC 410, has a glass transition temperature T of less than about 300°C, less than about 150°C, less than about 130°C, less than about 30°C, less than about 0°C, less than about -30°C, or less than about -50°C. g It may have.

[0200] In some non-limiting embodiments, the NIC material 416 may have sublimation temperatures of about 100–320°C, about 120–300°C, about 140–280°C, or about 150–250°C. In some non-limiting embodiments, such sublimation temperatures may allow the NIC material 416 to be readily deposited as a coating using physical vapor deposition (PVD).

[0201] The sublimation temperature of a material can be determined by various methods apparent to those skilled in the art, including, but not limited to, heating the material in a crucible under high vacuum and determining the temperature at which it can be achieved. · Observe the start of deposition of material onto the surface on a QCM attached at a fixed distance from the crucible, · Observe a specific deposition rate, as a non-limiting example 0.1 Å / second, of material onto the surface on a QCM attached at a fixed distance from the crucible, and / or · As a non-limiting example about 10 -4 or about 10 -5 Torr of the material's threshold vapor pressure is reached.

[0202] In some non-limiting examples, the sublimation temperature of the material is, as a non-limiting example, about 10 -4 In a high-vacuum environment of about 10 Torr, by heating the material in the evaporation source and evaporating the material, thus, as a non-limiting example, generating a vapor flux sufficient to cause deposition of the material at a deposition rate of about 0.1 Å / second onto the surface on a QCM attached at a fixed distance from the source, can be determined by determining the temperature.

[0203] In some non-limiting examples, the QCM can be attached about 65 cm away from the crucible for the purpose of determining the sublimation temperature.

[0204] In some non-limiting examples, NIC410 and / or the patterning material 316 can contain fluorine (F) atoms and / or silicon (Si) atoms. As a non-limiting example, the NIC material 416 for forming NIC410 can be a compound containing F and / or Si.

[0205] In some non-limiting examples, the NIC material 416 may be a compound containing F. In some non-limiting examples, the NIC material 416 may be a compound containing F and carbon (C) atoms. In some non-limiting examples, the NIC material 416 may be a compound containing F and C at an atomic ratio corresponding to a quotient of F / C of at least about 1, at least about 1.5, or at least about 2. In some non-limiting examples, the atomic ratio of F to C counts all the F atoms present in the compound structure, and for C atoms, the sp 3It can be determined by counting only the hybrid C atoms. In some non-limiting examples, the NIC material 416 may be a compound containing a portion with F and C in an atomic ratio corresponding to an F / C quotient of at least about 1, at least about 1.5, or at least about 2 as part of the molecular substructure of the NIC material 416.

[0206] In some non-limiting examples, the NIC material 416 can be an oligomer or can contain an oligomer.

[0207] In some non-limiting examples, the NIC material 416 can be a compound having a molecular structure containing a main chain and at least one functional group bonded to the main chain, or can contain this compound.

[0208] In some non-limiting examples, such a compound can have a molecular structure containing a siloxane group. In some non-limiting examples, the siloxane group can be a linear, branched, or cyclic siloxane group. In some non-limiting examples, the main chain can be a siloxane group or can contain a siloxane group. In some non-limiting examples, the main chain can be a siloxane group and at least one functional group containing fluorine, or can contain them. In some non-limiting examples, at least one functional group containing fluorine can be a fluoroalkyl group. Non-limiting examples of such compounds include fluorosiloxanes. Non-limiting examples of such compounds are Example Material 6 and Example Material 9.

[0209] In some non-limiting examples, the compound may have a molecular structure containing a silsesquioxane group. In some non-limiting examples, the silsesquioxane group may be an oligomeric cage silsesquioxane (POSS). In some non-limiting examples, the main chain may be a silsesquioxane group or may contain a silsesquioxane group. In some non-limiting examples, the main chain may be a silsesquioxane group and at least one functional group containing fluorine, or may contain them. In some non-limiting examples, the at least one functional group containing fluorine may be a fluoroalkyl group. Non-limiting examples of such compounds include fluorosilsesquioxane and / or fluoroPOSS. An example of such a compound is Example Material 8.

[0210] In some non-limiting embodiments, the compound may have a molecular structure containing substituted or unsubstituted aryl groups and / or substituted or unsubstituted heteroaryl groups. In some non-limiting embodiments, the aryl group may be phenyl or naphthyl. In some non-limiting embodiments, one or more C atoms of the aryl group may be substituted with heteroatoms that induce the heteroaryl group, which may be oxygen (O), nitrogen (N), and / or sulfur (S) in non-limiting embodiments. In some non-limiting embodiments, the main chain may be or contain substituted or unsubstituted aryl groups and / or substituted or unsubstituted heteroaryl groups. In some non-limiting embodiments, the main chain may be or contain substituted or unsubstituted aryl groups and / or substituted or unsubstituted heteroaryl groups, and at least one functional group containing fluorine. In some non-limiting embodiments, the at least one functional group containing fluorine may be a fluoroalkyl group.

[0211] In some non-limiting embodiments, the compound may have a molecular structure containing substituted or unsubstituted linear, branched, or cyclic hydrocarbon groups. In some non-limiting embodiments, one or more C atoms of the hydrocarbon group may be substituted by heteroatoms, which may be O, N, and / or S in non-limiting embodiments.

[0212] In some non-limiting examples, the compound may have a molecular structure containing a phosphazene group. In some non-limiting examples, the phosphazene group may be linear, branched, or cyclic phosphazene groups. In some non-limiting examples, the main chain may be a phosphazene group or may contain a phosphazene group. In some non-limiting examples, the main chain may be a phosphazene group and at least one functional group containing fluorine, or may contain them. In some non-limiting examples, the at least one functional group containing fluorine may be a fluoroalkyl group. A non-limiting example of such a compound is fluorophosphazene. A non-limiting example of such a compound is Example Material 4.

[0213] In some non-limiting examples, the compound may be a fluoropolymer. In some non-limiting examples, the compound may be a block copolymer containing F. In some non-limiting examples, the compound may be an oligomer. In some non-limiting examples, the oligomer may be a fluorooligomer. In some non-limiting examples, the compound may be a block oligomer containing F. Non-limiting examples of fluoropolymers and / or fluorooligomers have the molecular structures of Example Material 3, Example Material 5, and / or Example Material 7.

[0214] In some non-limiting embodiments, the compound may be a metal complex. In some non-limiting embodiments, the metal complex may be an organometallic complex. In some non-limiting embodiments, the organometallic complex may contain F. In some non-limiting embodiments, the organometallic complex may contain at least one ligand containing F. In some non-limiting embodiments, the at least one ligand containing F may be a fluoroalkyl group or may contain a fluoroalkyl group.

[0215] In some non-limiting embodiments, NIC material 416 may be or contain an organic-inorganic hybrid material. Such materials may generally comprise an organic portion or moiety and another inorganic portion or moiety. Non-limiting embodiments of such materials may contain siloxane groups, silsesquioxane groups, POSS groups, phosphazene groups, and / or metal complexes.

[0216] In some non-limiting embodiments, the NIC material 416 may comprise several different materials.

[0217] In some non-limiting embodiments, the NIC material 416 may be doped, coated, and / or supplemented with another material that may act as a seed or as defects and / or anomalies on the exposed layer surface 11, including but not limited to ledges, step edges, chemical impurities, binding sites, and / or kinks ("heterogeneity") that act as nucleation sites for the deposited material 426. In some non-limiting embodiments, such other material may include nucleation-promoting coating (NPC) material. In some non-limiting embodiments, such other material may, in non-limiting embodiments, include organic materials such as polycyclic aromatic compounds and / or materials containing nonmetallic elements, including but not limited to O, S, N, or C, the presence of which may otherwise be considered contaminants of the source material, the equipment used for deposition, and / or the vacuum chamber environment. In some non-limiting embodiments, such other material may be deposited in a layer thickness that is a fraction of the monolayer to avoid the formation of a continuous coating 30 of this material. Rather, monomers of such other materials would tend to be spaced apart in the lateral plane to form discrete nucleation sites for the deposited material 426.

[0218] In some non-limiting embodiments, the NIC410 may be arranged in a pattern that can be defined by at least one internal region that substantially lacks a closed coating of the NIC coating. In some non-limiting embodiments, at least one region may separate the NIC410 into a plurality of discrete fragments. In some non-limiting embodiments, the plurality of discrete fragments of the NIC410 may be physically separated from one another in the lateral plane of the NIC410. In some non-limiting embodiments, the plurality of discrete fragments of the NIC410 may be arranged in a regular structure including, but not limited to, an array or matrix, such that in some non-limiting embodiments the discrete fragments of the NIC410 constitute a repeating pattern.

[0219] In some non-limiting embodiments, at least one of the multiple discrete fragments of NIC410 may each correspond to an emission region 407. In some non-limiting embodiments, the aperture ratio of the emission region 407 may be about 50% or less, about 40% or less, about 30% or less, or about 20% or less.

[0220] In some non-limiting embodiments, the average thickness of NIC410 may be approximately 1 to 100 nm. In some non-limiting embodiments, the average thickness of NIC410 may be less than approximately 80 nm, less than approximately 60 nm, less than approximately 50 nm, less than approximately 40 nm, less than approximately 30 nm, less than approximately 20 nm, less than approximately 15 nm, or less than approximately 10 nm. In some non-limiting embodiments, the average thickness of the patterning layer may exceed approximately 3 nm, approximately 5 nm, or approximately 8 nm.

[0221] In some non-limiting embodiments, the average thickness of NIC410 may be less than approximately 10 nm. While we do not wish to be bound by any particular theory, somewhat surprisingly, it has been found that an average thickness of NIC410 greater than zero and less than approximately 10 nm can, in at least some non-limiting embodiments, offer a certain advantage over NIC410 having an average thickness greater than 10 nm in achieving improved patterning contrast of the deposited material 426.

[0222] In some non-limiting embodiments, NIC410 may be formed as a single monolithic coating.

[0223] In some non-limiting embodiments, NIC410 may act as an optical coating. In some non-limiting embodiments, NIC410 may modify at least one attribute and / or property of light emitted from at least one emission region 407 of device 400. In some non-limiting embodiments, NIC410 may exhibit a degree of haze that scatters emitted light. In some non-limiting embodiments, NIC410 may include a crystalline material for scattering light that has passed through its interior. In some non-limiting embodiments, such scattering of light may facilitate the enhancement of out-coupling of light from device 400. In some non-limiting embodiments, NIC410 may be initially deposited as a substantially amorphous coating, including but not limited to a substantially amorphous coating, so that after deposition, NIC410 crystallizes and subsequently acts as an optical coupling.

[0224] In some non-limiting embodiments, NIC410 may be deposited specifically to function in that manner. In some non-limiting embodiments, NIC410 may be deposited as part of a manufacturing process but may also function as NIC410.

[0225] deposited material Following the selective deposition of NIC 410 over at least the second portion 312, the exposed layer surface 11 of the device 400 may be exposed to the vapor flux of the deposited material 426 in an open-mask and / or mask-free deposition process, including but not limited to these.

[0226] In some non-limiting embodiments, the exposed layer surface 11 of the device 400 in the lateral plane of the non-emission region 409, including but not limited to the entirety of the second portion 312, may include the NIC 410. Thus, in such regions, the deposited material 426 may not tend to form as a closed coating of deposited material 426.

[0227] In some non-limiting embodiments, such regions may substantially lack a closed coating of the deposited material 426.

[0228] Therefore, it can be seen that at least one blind hole region 313 of the second portion 312 of device 400 may substantially lack any impermeable elements such as the TFT structure 401, associated conductive metal wires, first electrode 404, or second electrode 406.

[0229] particle structure While we do not wish to be limited to any particular theory, the formation of a closed coating of the deposited material 426 on top of the NIC 410 can be substantially suppressed on the closed coating of the NIC 410. However, in some non-limiting embodiments, when the NIC 410 is exposed to the deposition of the deposited material 426 on top of the NIC 410, some vapor monomers of the deposited material 426 may ultimately form at least one particle on the NIC 410, including but not limited to nanoparticles (NPs) and / or networks of nanoparticles (collectively referred to as particle structures 61).

[0230] Therefore, the exposed layer surface 11 of the device 400 in the lateral plane of the non-emission region 409, which includes but is not limited to the entirety of the second portion 312, may, in some non-limiting embodiments, include an intermediate step layer and / or a discontinuous coating. For the sake of simplicity of explanation, in this disclosure, the term “discontinuous layer” will be understood to include either or both of the intermediate step layer and the discontinuous coating.

[0231] Therefore, such a region may include a discontinuous layer comprising at least one particle structure 61 of the deposited material 426. In some non-limiting embodiments, at least some of the particle structures 61 may be separated from one another. In other words, in some non-limiting embodiments, the discontinuous layer may include feature portions comprising particle structures 61 that are physically separated from one another so that no closed coating is formed on top of them.

[0232] Therefore, in some non-limiting embodiments, such regions may include a thin dispersed layer of the deposited material 426 formed as a particle structure 61.

[0233] In some non-limiting embodiments, at least one of the particle structures 61 of the deposited material 426 may be in physical contact with the exposed layer surface 11 of the NIC 410. In some non-limiting embodiments, substantially all of the particle structures 61 of the deposited material 426 may be in physical contact with the exposed layer surface 11 of the NIC 410.

[0234] While we do not wish to be bound by any particular theory, it has been found, somewhat surprisingly, that the presence of such a thin dispersed layer of deposited material 426, including but not limited to at least one particle structure 61, including but not limited to metallic particle structures 61, in discontinuous layers and / or in close proximity to the exposed layer surface 11 of NIC410, including but not limited to interfaces with the coating layer on NIC410, can exhibit one or more different properties and associated different behaviors, including but not limited to the optical effects and attributes of device 400 with respect to photons and / or EM signals emitted by device 400 and / or exchanged through the second portion 312 of surface 301, as described herein. In some non-limiting embodiments, such effects and attributes can be controlled to some extent by a sensible choice of the characteristic size, size distribution, shape, coverage, composition, deposition density, and / or degree of dispersion of such particle structures 61 on NIC410.

[0235] In some non-limiting embodiments, the formation of at least one of the characteristic size, size distribution, shape, coverage, composition, deposition density, and / or degree of dispersion of the particle structure 61 on the NIC 410 can be controlled in some non-limiting embodiments by a sensible selection of at least one property of the NIC material 416, the average thickness of the NIC 410, the introduction of heterogeneity in the NIC 410, and / or a deposition environment including, but not limited to, the temperature, pressure, duration, deposition rate, and / or deposition method of the NIC 410.

[0236] In some non-limiting embodiments, the formation of characteristic sizes, size distributions, shapes, coverage, composition, deposition density, and / or dispersion of such particle structures 61 can be controlled by a sensible selection of a deposition environment including, but not limited to, the temperature, pressure, duration, deposition rate, and / or deposition method of the particle structures 61.

[0237] Those skilled in the art will understand that certain metallic nanoparticles (NPs) exhibit surface plasmon (SP) excitation and / or coherent oscillations of free electrons, and as a result, such NPs may absorb and / or scatter light in the visible spectrum and / or a range of the EM spectrum including but not limited to a subrange of the visible spectrum. The optical response of such localized SP (LSP) excitations and / or coherent oscillations, including but not limited to a (sub)range of the EM spectrum (absorption spectrum) in which absorption can be concentrated, refractive index n, and / or extinction coefficient k, may be adapted by various attributes of such NPs, including but not limited to characteristic size, size distribution, shape, coverage, composition, deposition density, dispersion, and / or attributes of the nanostructure and / or the material and / or cohesiveness of the medium adjacent to the nanostructure.

[0238] In some non-limiting embodiments, the presence of at least one particle structure 61 in the deposited material 426 may contribute to improvements in the photoextraction, performance, stability, reliability, and / or lifetime of the device 400.

[0239] Those skilled in the art will understand that while a simplified model of the optical effect is presented herein, other models and / or descriptions may be applicable.

[0240] In some non-limiting embodiments, the presence of at least one particle structure 61 in the deposited material 426 reduces and / or mitigates the crystallization of thin film layers and / or coatings disposed adjacent to the particle structure 61 in the longitudinal plane, including but not limited to the NIC 410 and / or any coating layers, thereby stabilizing the properties of the thin films disposed adjacent to the particle structure 61, and in some non-limiting embodiments, reducing light scattering.

[0241] In some non-limiting embodiments, the presence of at least one particle structure 61 in the deposited material may provide an enhancement of absorption in at least a portion of the UV spectrum. In some non-limiting embodiments, controlling the properties of such a particle structure 61, including but not limited to its characteristic size, size distribution, shape, coverage, composition, deposition density, dispersion, deposited material 426, and refractive index n, can affect the absorbance, wavelength range, and peak wavelength λ of the absorption spectrum, including the UV spectrum. max This can facilitate control of the absorption of light in at least a portion of the UV spectrum, which may be advantageous, for example, to improve the performance, stability, reliability, and / or lifetime of the device. In some non-limiting embodiments, various properties of the particle structure 61 may be modulated by the attributes of the surrounding medium, coating, and / or layer. In some non-limiting embodiments, the particle structure 61 is disposed in contact with the NIC410 and / or a low refractive index coating to modulate the absorption properties and / or refractive index n of the particle structure 61.

[0242] In some non-limiting embodiments, optical effects can be described in terms of their impact on the transmission and / or absorption wavelength spectra, including the wavelength ranges involved and / or their peak intensities.

[0243] Additionally, the presented model may suggest specific effects on the transmission and / or absorption of photons passing through such particle structures 61, and in some non-limiting embodiments, such effects may reflect local effects that are not broadly observable.

[0244] Typically, the size of the particle structure 61 in the lateral plane (observation window) of the non-emission region 409, which includes but is not limited to the entirety of the second portion 312, may reflect a statistical distribution.

[0245] In some non-limiting embodiments, the absorption spectral intensity may tend to be proportional to the deposition density in such regions for a particular distribution of characteristic size S1 of the particle structure 61.

[0246] The above also assumes, as a simplification, that the NPs modeling each particle structure 61 may be perfectly spherical. Typically, the shape of the particle structure 61 in such a region (or observation window) can be highly dependent on the deposition process. In some non-limiting embodiments, the shape of the particle structure 61 can have a significant effect on SP excitation, including but not limited to the width, wavelength range, and / or intensity of the resonance band, and associated absorption bands.

[0247] In some non-limiting embodiments, the material surrounding such regions may influence the optical effects that affect the region transmission of photons and / or signals, whether the particle structure 61 is located beneath these regions (so that the particle structure 61 may be deposited on the exposed layer surface 11 of these regions) or subsequently disposed on the exposed layer surface 11 of these regions.

[0248] In some non-limiting embodiments, it can be assumed that arranging a particle structure 61 on and / or in physical contact with and / or in close proximity to the exposed layer surface 11 of NIC410, which may be made of a low refractive index n material, may shift the absorption spectrum of the particle structure 61.

[0249] Since at least one particle structure 61 may be positioned on and / or in physical contact with and / or in close proximity to the NIC 410, the device 400 may be configured such that the absorption spectrum of the particle structure 61 can be adjusted and / or modified by the presence of the NIC 410. In some non-limiting embodiments, the device 400 may be configured such that the presence of the NIC 410 can adjust and / or modify such an absorption spectrum so that it may and / or not substantially overlap with at least a portion of the EM spectrum, including but not limited to the visible spectrum, UV spectrum, and / or IR spectrum. In some non-limiting embodiments, the device 400 may be configured such that the presence of the NIC 410 or a low refractive index layer can adjust and / or modify such an absorption spectrum so that it may substantially overlap with at least a portion of the UVA spectrum, thereby attenuating the transmission of UVA light or signals through the NIC 410 or the low refractive index layer.

[0250] In some non-limiting embodiments, the deposited material 426 may contain metals having bond dissociation energies of less than about 300 kJ / mol, less than about 200 kJ / mol, less than about 165 kJ / mol, less than about 150 kJ / mol, less than about 50 kJ / mol, or less than about 20 kJ / mol.

[0251] In some non-limiting embodiments, the deposited material 426 may include a metal having an electronegativity of less than about 1.4, less than about 1.3, or less than about 1.2.

[0252] In some non-limiting embodiments, the deposited material 426 may contain elements selected from potassium (K), sodium (Na), lithium (Li), barium (Ba), cesium (Cs), ytterbium (Yb), silver (Ag), gold (Au), copper (Cu), aluminum (Al), magnesium (Mg), zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd), tin (Sn), or yttrium (Y). In some non-limiting embodiments, the elements may include K, Na, Li, Ba, Cs, Yb, Ag, Au, Cu, Al, and / or Mg. In some non-limiting embodiments, the elements may include Cu, Ag, and / or Au. In some non-limiting embodiments, the element may be Cu. In some non-limiting embodiments, the element may be Al. In some non-limiting embodiments, the elements may include Mg, Zn, Cd, and / or Yb. In some non-limiting embodiments, the elements may include Mg, Ag, Al, Yb, and / or Li. In some non-limiting embodiments, the elements may include Mg, Ag, and / or Yb. In some non-limiting embodiments, the elements may include Mg and / or Ag. In some non-limiting embodiments, the element may be Ag.

[0253] In some non-limiting embodiments, the deposit material 426 may be a pure metal. In some non-limiting embodiments, the deposit material 426 may be pure Ag or substantially pure Ag. In some non-limiting embodiments, substantially pure Ag may have a purity of at least about 95%, at least about 99%, at least about 99.9%, at least about 99.99%, at least about 99.999%, or at least about 99.9995%. In some non-limiting embodiments, the deposit material 426 may be pure Mg or substantially pure Mg. In some non-limiting embodiments, substantially pure Mg may have a purity of at least about 95%, at least about 99%, at least about 99.9%, at least about 99.99%, at least about 99.999%, or at least about 99.9995%.

[0254] In some non-limiting embodiments, the deposited material 426 may include an alloy. In some non-limiting embodiments, the alloy may be an Ag-containing alloy, a Mg-containing alloy, or an AgMg-containing alloy. In some non-limiting embodiments, the AgMg-containing alloy may have an alloy composition that can range from 1:10 (Ag:Mg) to about 10:1 by volume.

[0255] In some non-limiting embodiments, the deposited material 426 may include other metals as a substitute for Ag and / or in combination with Ag. In some non-limiting embodiments, the deposited material 426 may include alloys of Ag with at least one other metal. In some non-limiting embodiments, the deposited material 426 may include alloys of Ag with Mg and / or Yb. In some non-limiting embodiments, such alloys may be binary alloys having a composition of about 5 vol% Ag to about 95 vol% Ag, with the remainder being other metals. In some non-limiting embodiments, the deposited material 426 may include Ag and Mg. In some non-limiting embodiments, the deposited material 426 may include Ag:Mg alloys having a composition of about 1:10 to about 10:1 by volume. In some non-limiting embodiments, the deposited material 426 may include Ag and Yb. In some non-limiting embodiments, the deposited material 426 may include Yb:Ag alloys having a composition of about 1:20 to about 10:1 by volume. In some non-limiting embodiments, the deposit material 426 may include Mg and Yb. In some non-limiting embodiments, the deposit material 426 may include an Mg:Yb alloy. In some non-limiting embodiments, the deposit material 426 may include Ag, Mg, and Yb. In some non-limiting embodiments, the deposit material 426 may include an Ag:Mg:Yb alloy.

[0256] In some non-limiting embodiments, the deposited material 426 may contain at least one additional element. In some non-limiting embodiments, such additional element may be a nonmetallic element. In some non-limiting embodiments, the nonmetallic element may be O, S, N, or C. In some non-limiting embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that in some non-limiting embodiments, such additional element may be incorporated onto the surface of the deposited material 426 as a contaminant by the presence of such additional element in the source material, the equipment used for deposition, and / or in the vacuum chamber environment. In some non-limiting embodiments, the concentration of such additional element may be limited to below a threshold concentration. In some non-limiting embodiments, such additional element may form compounds with other elements of the deposited material 426. In some non-limiting embodiments, the concentration of nonmetallic elements in the deposited material 426 may be less than about 1%, less than about 0.1%, less than about 0.01%, less than about 0.001%, less than about 0.0001%, less than about 0.00001%, less than about 0.000001%, or less than about 0.0000001%. In some non-limiting embodiments, the deposited material 426 may have a composition in which the total amount of internal O and C is less than about 10%, less than about 5%, less than about 1%, less than about 0.1%, less than about 0.01%, less than about 0.001%, less than about 0.0001%, less than about 0.00001%, less than about 0.000001%, or less than about 0.0000001%.

[0257] Somewhat surprisingly, it has been found that reducing the concentration of certain nonmetallic elements in the deposit material 426 can facilitate the selective deposition of at least one particle structure 61, particularly when the deposit material 426 consists substantially of metal and / or metal alloys. While we do not wish to be bound by any particular theory, as a non-limiting embodiment, it can be assumed that certain nonmetallic elements, such as O and / or C, can be deposited on the surface of the NIC 410 so as to act as nucleation sites for metallic elements in the deposit material 426 when present in the vapor flux of the deposit material 426 and / or in the deposition chamber and / or environment. It can be assumed that reducing the concentration of such nonmetallic elements that can act as nucleation sites can facilitate the reduction of the amount of deposit material 426 deposited on the exposed layer surface 11 of the NIC 410.

[0258] In some non-limiting embodiments, the deposit material 426 and the base layer may contain a common metal.

[0259] In some non-limiting embodiments, the NIC 410, and / or in some non-limiting embodiments, the NIC material 416 when deposited in the device 400 as a film and / or coating in some form and under similar conditions to the deposition of the NIC 410, may have a surface energy Y1 which may be less than the surface energy Y2 of the deposited material 426 when deposited in the device 400 in some form and under similar conditions to the deposition of at least one particle structure 61.

[0260] In some non-limiting embodiments, the quotient of Y2 / Y1 may be at least about 1, at least about 5, at least about 10, or at least about 20.

[0261] In some non-limiting embodiments, the surface coverage C1 of a region of the NIC410 by at least one particle structure 61 on the NIC410 may be less than or equal to the maximum threshold percentage coverage.

[0262] In some non-limiting embodiments, the evaluation of surface coverage may be performed by measuring and / or calculating the presence of at least one particle structure 61 using a variety of imaging techniques, including but not limited to transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and / or scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

[0263] In some non-limiting embodiments, the evaluation of surface coverage may be performed by measuring and / or calculating the presence of at least one particle structure 61 using a variety of imaging techniques, including but not limited to TEM, AFM, and / or SEM.

[0264] In some non-limiting embodiments, at least one of such criteria may be quantified by a numerical metric. In some non-limiting embodiments, such metric may be a calculation of the degree of dispersion D describing the distribution of particle (area) sizes of at least one particle structure 61 in such region, where,

number

number

number

number

[0265] Those skilled in the art will understand that the degree of dispersion D is roughly analogous to the polydispersity index (PDI), and that their averages are roughly analogous to the concepts of number-average molecular weight and weight-average molecular weight, which are well known in organic chemistry, but are applied to (area) size, in contrast to the molecular weight of the sample particle structure 61.

[0266] Those skilled in the art will also understand that, in the context of calculating the degree of dispersion D, the concept of (area) size can be used to reflect that each particle structure 61 represents a three-dimensional volume concept along three axes, namely the vertical axis and the paired or horizontal axis.

[0267] In some non-limiting embodiments, the dispersion degree D and / or the number mean and (area) size of the particles (area) may be calculated by at least one of the following number mean and (area) size mean of particle size.

number

[0268] In some non-limiting embodiments, the deposited material 426, which includes but is not limited to the particulate structure 61, may be deposited by mask-free and / or open-mask deposition processes.

[0269] In some non-limiting embodiments, at least one particle structure 61 and a base layer may together form at least a portion of the emission electrodes 404, 406 of a light-emitting device, including but not limited to an OLED. In some non-limiting embodiments, at least one particle structure 61 and a base layer may together form at least a portion of the cathode of the emission electrode.

[0270] In some non-limiting embodiments, at least one particle structure 61 may be deposited in a pattern over the lateral extent of the NIC410 using a fine metal mask (FMM).

[0271] In some non-limiting embodiments, at least one particle structure 61 may be arranged in a pattern that can be defined by at least one region in the NIC 410, substantially lacking a closed coating of the deposited material 426. In some non-limiting embodiments, this at least one region may separate the deposited material 426 into a plurality of discrete fragments. In some non-limiting embodiments, the plurality of discrete fragments of the deposited material 426 may be physically separated from each other in the lateral plane of the NIC 410. In some non-limiting embodiments, at least two of such plurality of discrete fragments of the deposited material 426 may be electrically coupled. In some non-limiting embodiments, at least two of such plurality of discrete fragments of the deposited material 426 may each be electrically coupled to a common conductive layer or coating, including but not limited to a base layer, to allow the flow of current between these at least two. In some non-limiting embodiments, at least two of such plurality of discrete fragments of the deposited material 426 may be electrically insulated from each other.

[0272] In some non-limiting embodiments, the properties of at least one such particle structure 61 may be evaluated to some extent arbitrarily according to at least one of several criteria, including, but not limited to, characteristic size, size distribution, shape, composition, coverage, deposition distribution, dispersibility, and / or the presence and / or extent of aggregated instances of deposited material 426 formed on a portion of the exposed layer surface 11 of the base layer.

[0273] In some non-limiting embodiments, the evaluation of at least one particle structure 61 conforming to at least one criterion may be carried out by measuring and / or calculating at least one of its properties using a variety of imaging techniques, including but not limited to TEM, AFM, and / or SEM.

[0274] Those skilled in the art will understand that such evaluation may depend more or less on the extent of the exposed layer surface 11 being considered, which in some non-limiting embodiments may include the area and / or region of the exposed layer surface 11. In some non-limiting embodiments, at least one particle structure 61 may be evaluated over its entire extent in a first transverse plane and / or a second transverse plane substantially transverse to the first transverse plane of the exposed layer surface 11. In some non-limiting embodiments, at least one particle structure 61 may be evaluated over an extent including at least one applied observation window.

[0275] In some non-limiting embodiments, at least one observation window may be located around the lateral surface of the exposed layer surface 11, internally, and / or in grid coordinates. In some non-limiting embodiments, a plurality of at least one observation windows may be used when evaluating at least one particle structure 61.

[0276] In some non-limiting embodiments, the observation window may correspond to the field of view of an imaging technique applied to evaluate at least one particle structure 61, including but not limited to TEM, AFM, and / or SEM. In some non-limiting embodiments, the observation window may correspond to a given magnification level, including but not limited to 2.00 μm, 1.00 μm, 500 nm, or 200 nm.

[0277] In some non-limiting embodiments, the evaluation of at least one particle structure 61 of the exposed layer surface 11 of the base layer, including but not limited to at least one observation window used, may involve calculation and / or measurement by any number of mechanisms, including but not limited to manual counting and / or known estimation techniques, which may include curve, polygon, and / or shape fitting techniques in some non-limiting embodiments.

[0278] In some non-limiting embodiments, the evaluation of at least one particle structure 61 of the exposed layer surface 11 of the base layer, including but not limited to at least one observation window used, may involve calculating and / or measuring the mean, median, mode, maximum, minimum, and / or other probabilistic, statistical, and / or data manipulation values.

[0279] In some non-limiting embodiments, one of at least one criteria that can evaluate such at least one particle structure 61 may be the surface coverage of the deposited material 426 on the lateral plane of the non-emission region 409, including but not limited to the entirety of the second portion 312. In some non-limiting embodiments, the surface coverage may be expressed as a (non-zero) percentage coverage of such region by such deposited material 426. In some non-limiting embodiments, the percentage coverage may be compared to a maximum threshold percentage coverage.

[0280] In some non-limiting embodiments, a portion of the deposited layer 320 having a surface coverage that may be substantially below the maximum threshold percentage coverage may result in the manifestation of different optical properties that can be conferred to photons passing through such a portion of such a region compared to photons passing through a portion of such a region having a surface coverage substantially above the maximum threshold percentage coverage, regardless of whether they are fully transmitted through the device 400 and / or emitted by the device 400.

[0281] In some non-limiting embodiments, conductive materials containing metals including but not limited to Ag, Mg, and / or Yb attenuate and / or adsorb photons, so one measure of the amount of surface coverage of a conductive material on a surface can be (light) transmittance.

[0282] Those skilled in the art will understand that in some non-limiting embodiments, surface coverage can be understood to encompass one or both of particle size and deposition density. Thus, in some non-limiting embodiments, two or more of these three criteria may be positively correlated. In fact, in some non-limiting embodiments, the criterion of low surface coverage may include some combination of the criterion of low deposition density and the criterion of low particle size.

[0283] In some non-limiting embodiments, one of the criteria that can be used to evaluate such a region may be the characteristic size of the constituent particle structure 61.

[0284] In some non-limiting embodiments, at least one particle structure 61 may have a characteristic size S1 less than or equal to a maximum threshold size. Non-limiting embodiments of the characteristic size S1 may include height, width, length, and / or diameter.

[0285] In some non-limiting embodiments, substantially all of the particle structures 61 may have a characteristic size S1 that falls within a specified range.

[0286] In some non-limiting embodiments, such characteristic size S1 may be characterized by a characteristic length which may be considered the maximum value of the characteristic size in some non-limiting embodiments. In some non-limiting embodiments, such maximum value may extend along the principal axis of the particle structure 61. In some non-limiting embodiments, the principal axis may be understood as a first dimension extending in a plane defined by a plurality of transverse axes. In some non-limiting embodiments, the characteristic width may be identified as a value of the characteristic size of the particle structure 61 extending along the sub-axis of the particle structure 61. In some non-limiting embodiments, the sub-axis may be understood as a second dimension extending in the same plane but substantially transverse to the principal axis.

[0287] In some non-limiting embodiments, the characteristic length of at least one particle structure 61 along the first dimension may be less than the maximum threshold size.

[0288] In some non-limiting embodiments, the characteristic width of at least one particle structure 61 along the second dimension may be less than the maximum threshold size.

[0289] In some non-limiting embodiments, the size of the particle structure 61 can be determined by calculating and / or measuring the characteristic size of at least one such particle structure 61, which includes, but is not limited to, the mass, volume, diameter length, perimeter, principal axis, and / or sub-axis.

[0290] In some non-limiting embodiments, one of the criteria that can be used to evaluate such a sedimentary layer 320 may be the sedimentary density of the sedimentary layer 320.

[0291] In some non-limiting embodiments, the characteristic size of the particle structure 61 can be compared to the maximum threshold size.

[0292] In some non-limiting embodiments, the deposition density of the particle structure 61 can be compared to the maximum threshold deposition density.

[0293] In some non-limiting embodiments, the particle structure 61 may have a substantially round shape. In some non-limiting embodiments, the particle structure 61 may have a substantially spherical shape.

[0294] In some non-limiting embodiments, the particle structure 61 may have a maximum threshold size of less than about 200 nm. In some non-limiting embodiments, such dimensions may correspond to the width, length, diameter, and / or height of individual particles. In some non-limiting embodiments, the particles of the particle structure 61 may have diameters of about 1 to 200 nm, about 1 to 160 nm, about 1 to 100 nm, about 1 to 50 nm, about 1 to 30 nm, or about 1 to 20 nm.

[0295] In some non-limiting embodiments, the particles of particle structure 61 have average and / or median dimensions of about 1-200 nm, about 1-150 nm, about 1-100 nm, about 1-50 nm, about 1-30 nm, about 1-20 nm, about 5-18 nm, or about 8-15 nm. In non-limiting embodiments, such average and / or median dimensions may correspond to the average diameter and / or median diameter of the particles.

[0296] In some non-limiting embodiments, the percentage of the exposed layer surface beneath the particle structure 61 may be less than about 35%, less than about 30%, less than about 25%, less than about 20%, less than about 18%, less than about 15%, less than about 13%, or less than about 10% in a given region. In some non-limiting embodiments, the percentage of the exposed layer surface beneath the particle structure 61 may be about 10-35%, about 10-30%, about 15-25%, or about 18-25% in a given region.

[0297] For the purpose of simplification, in some non-limiting embodiments, it can be assumed that the longitudinal extent of each particle structure 61 may be substantially the same (in any case, this longitudinal extent cannot be directly measured from a planar SEM image), and the (area) size of the particle structure 61 may be expressed as a two-dimensional area coverage along a pair of transverse axes. In this disclosure, references to (area) size may be understood to refer to such a two-dimensional concept and to be distinguished from size (without the prefix "area") which may refer to a one-dimensional concept, such as the dimension of a straight line.

[0298] Indeed, some early studies have shown that in some non-limiting embodiments, the longitudinal spread of such particle structures 61 along the longitudinal axis tends to be smaller than the transverse spread (along at least one of the transverse axes), so that the volume contribution of the longitudinal spread of the particle structures 61 can be much smaller than the depositional contribution of such transverse spread. In some non-limiting embodiments, this can be expressed by an aspect ratio (ratio of longitudinal spread to transverse spread) which may be less than 1. In some non-limiting embodiments, such aspect ratios may be approximately 1:10, approximately 1:20, approximately 1:50, approximately 1:75, and approximately 1:300.

[0299] In this regard, the assumption mentioned above that the vertical extent is substantially the same and negligible may be appropriate in order to represent the particle structure 61 as a two-dimensional area coverage.

[0300] Those skilled in the art will understand that considerable variability may be possible in terms of feature parts and / or topology within the observation window, considering the non-deterministic nature of the deposition process, including but not limited to non-uniformity on the exposed layer surface 11, including but not limited to step edges, chemical impurities, bonding sites, kinks, and / or contaminants, and consequently the formation of particle structures 61 on the exposed layer surface 11, the non-uniform nature of their coalescence as the deposition process continues, particularly when defects and / or anomalies exist on the exposed layer surface 11 of the base material, as well as uncertainty in the size and / or location of the observation window, and the complexity and variability inherent in the calculation and / or measurement of their size, spacing, deposition density, cohesion, etc.

[0301] For the sake of simplicity of illustration, specific details of the deposited material, including but not limited to the layer thickness profile and / or edge profile, have been omitted in this disclosure.

[0302] In some non-limiting embodiments, the exposed layer surface 11 of the device 400 in the lateral plane of the non-emission region 409, which includes but is not limited to the entirety of the second portion 312, may substantially lack the particle structure 61 of the deposited material 426.

[0303] Second electrode At the same time, since NIC410 is limited to the entirety of the second portion 312 and / or within the lateral plane of the non-emission region 409 of the first portion 311, in some non-limiting embodiments, the exposed layer surface 11 of the device 400 within the lateral plane of the emission region 407 of the first portion 311 may include at least one semiconductor layer 405. Thus, within such a lateral plane of the emission region 407 of the first portion 311, the vapor flux of the deposited material 426 incident on the exposed layer surface 11 may form a closed coating of the deposited material 426 that may function as a second electrode 406 and / or form part of the second electrode 406.

[0304] In some non-limiting embodiments, the second electrode 406 may partially extend over the NIC 410 in the transition region 417.

[0305] Therefore, in some non-limiting embodiments, the NIC410 can achieve one or more objectives, namely, substantially preventing the deposition of the deposition material 426 as part of the second electrode 406 of the second portion 312, enabling (selective and / or patterned) deposition of the deposition material 426 as part of the second electrode 406 in a portion of the first portion 311 (corresponding in some non-limiting embodiments to the lateral plane of the emission region 407), and / or in some non-limiting embodiments, providing a base for the deposition of at least one deposited particle structure 61, without using any mask during the deposition of the deposition material 426.

[0306] Low refractive index coating In some non-limiting embodiments, at least one low refractive index coating is disposed in at least one blind hole region 313. In some non-limiting embodiments, at least one low refractive index coating is disposed on the side of the substrate 10 opposite to at least one under-display component 330. In some non-limiting embodiments, at least one low refractive index coating is disposed on or adjacent to at least one semiconductor layer 405.

[0307] At least one low refractive index coating generally exhibits a relatively low refractive index n in at least a portion of the visible spectrum. In non-limiting embodiments, the refractive index of the low refractive index coating may be about 1.55 or less, about 1.5 or less, about 1.45 or less, about 1.43 or less, about 1.4 or less, about 1.39 or less, about 1.37 or less, about 1.35 or less, about 1.32 or less, about 1.3 or less, or about 1.25 or less. In some non-limiting embodiments, the refractive index n of the low refractive index coating is about 1.2 to 1.55, about 1.2 to 1.5, about 1.25 to 1.45, or about 1.25 to 1.4. In some non-limiting embodiments, if the low refractive index coating may have a refractive index n of less than about 1.4, less than about 1.37, or less than about 1.35 at a wavelength of about 550 nm, it may be particularly advantageous for increasing light transmittance through at least one blind hole region 313.

[0308] While we do not wish to be bound by any particular theory, it has been found that providing a low refractive index coating can increase the transmission of ambient light through at least one blind hole region 313 of the device 400 in at least some devices 400. In a non-limiting embodiment, somewhat surprisingly, a display panel 310 having a low refractive index coating with a refractive index n lower than that of a typical capping layer (CPL) used in OLEDs may exhibit increased light transmittance compared to an equivalent display panel without such a low refractive index coating. This is particularly surprising considering that a person skilled in the art can reasonably expect that including a low refractive index coating creates an interface between the low refractive index coating and an adjacent layer with a higher refractive index n that can reflect light, and therefore the amount of light transmitted through such a device may decrease. In at least one non-limiting embodiment, a device in which a 15 nm thick low refractive index coating was disposed between the CPL and the semiconductor layer 405 was found to exhibit approximately 5% higher light transmittance, measured at a wavelength of 500 nm, compared to another device in which such a low refractive index coating was not provided.

[0309] In some non-limiting embodiments, the low refractive index layer may have an absorption coefficient k which may be less than about 0.01 for photons with wavelengths greater than at least about 600 nm, at least about 500 nm, at least about 460 nm, at least about 420 nm, or at least about 410 nm. In this way, for example, the low refractive index layer may not substantially attenuate and / or absorb light transmitted through the display panel 310.

[0310] In some non-limiting embodiments, the low refractive index layer is and / or can act as the NIC layer 310.

[0311] The exposed layer surface 11 of the uppermost (last deposited) low refractive index coating among at least one low refractive index coating can be defined as the interface surface. In some non-limiting embodiments, a high refractive index medium may be disposed on the interface surface.

[0312] In some non-limiting embodiments, the high refractive index medium may be provided in the form of a physical high refractive index coating, which may include, but is not limited to, a coating layer that can be deposited on the device 400 as part of a manufacturing process. In some non-limiting embodiments, the high refractive index coating may include lithium fluoride (LiF).

[0313] The refractive index n of at least one low refractive index coating may be lower than the refractive index n of a high refractive index medium, including, but not limited to, a high refractive index coating in at least a portion of the visible spectrum in some non-limiting embodiments.

[0314] In some non-limiting embodiments, the refractive index n of at least one low refractive index coating may be considered low compared to typical materials used in typical optoelectronic devices. However, those skilled in the art will understand that, for the purposes of this disclosure, the refractive index n of at least one low refractive index coating is not necessarily limited in this way, provided that the refractive index n of at least one low refractive index coating is less than the refractive index n of the high refractive index medium.

[0315] Furthermore, in some non-limiting embodiments, the device 400 may have voids and / or air interfaces at its interface surface during manufacturing, after manufacturing, and / or during operation, in which case at least one low refractive index coating may have a refractive index n lower than that of air, which is typically considered to have a refractive index slightly above 1.0.

[0316] UVA absorbing coating In some non-limiting embodiments, a UVA-absorbing coating may be provided in at least one blind hole region 313. Such a UVA-absorbing coating can generally absorb light in the UVA spectrum.

[0317] In at least some applications, it may be particularly beneficial to provide a UVA-absorbing coating that reduces or mitigates the transmission of UVA light to the under-display component 330. In a non-limiting embodiment, the presence of such a UVA-absorbing coating may improve the image quality captured using the under-display component 330 by reducing interference caused by UVA light.

[0318] In some non-limiting embodiments, such a UVA-absorbing coating may be located on the side of the substrate 10 opposite to at least one under-display component 330.

[0319] In some non-limiting embodiments, such UVA absorbing coatings may be disposed on and / or adjacent to at least one semiconductor layer 405.

[0320] In some non-limiting embodiments, such a UVA-absorbing coating may be disposed on and / or in direct contact with at least one low refractive index coating.

[0321] In some non-limiting embodiments, the UVA-absorbing coating may include at least one particle structure 61.

[0322] Covering layer In some non-limiting embodiments, the exposed layer surface 11 of the second electrode 40 and NIC 410 may be covered with one or more layers and / or coatings, including but not limited to a barrier coating 520, a glass cap and / or thin film encapsulation (TFE) layer, a polarizer 530, an optically transparent adhesive (OCA) and / or touchscreen material, and / or a glass cover 550 for forming at least one surface 301 of the display panel 310 (collectively referred to as the “cover layer” in some non-limiting embodiments).

[0323] The stability of OLED devices can be enhanced by incorporating an NP-based outcoupling layer above the cathode layer to extract energy from plasmon modes, as reported in Fusella et al., “Plasmonic enhancement of stability and brightness in organic light-emitting devices”, Nature 2020, 585, at 379-382 (“Fusella et al”). The NP-based outcoupling layer was fabricated by spin-casting 20 nm cubic Ag NPs onto the organic layer above the cathode.

[0324] However, since most commercial OLED devices are fabricated using vacuum-based processes, spin casting from solution may not constitute a suitable mechanism for forming such an NP-based outcoupling layer above the cathode.

[0325] The inventors have discovered that such an NP-based outcoupling layer above the cathode (including, but not limited to, a barrier coating 520, a glass cap and / or a TFE layer, a polarizer 530, other layers 540, and / or at least one of glass) can be fabricated in a vacuum by depositing a metal deposition material 426 on a NIC 410 which may be deposited on the cathode and / or on the cathode (and thus may be suitable for the inventors in a commercial OLED fabrication process). Such a process can avoid the use of solvents or other wet chemicals which may cause damage to the OLED device and / or adversely affect the reliability of the device.

[0326] In some non-limiting embodiments, in order to substantially increase the transmittance through at least one blind hole region 313, the polarizer 530 may be formed to substantially not provide polarization over the lateral plane of at least one blind hole region 313 of the second portion 312 of the device 400, including but not limited to having an aperture in the blind hole region 313 corresponding to the blind hole region 313.

[0327] In some non-limiting embodiments, the optical response described above with respect to the photon absorption coating may include the absorption of photons incident on the photon absorption coating, thereby reducing reflection. In some non-limiting embodiments, the absorption may be concentrated in the EM spectrum, which includes but is not limited to the visible spectrum and / or a sub-spectrum therein. In some non-limiting embodiments, using a photon absorption layer as part of an optoelectronic device may reduce the reliance on the polarizer 530 in the optoelectronic device.

[0328] Those skilled in the art will know, though not shown, that the absence of the first electrode 401 in the lateral plane of at least one blind hole region 313 of the second portion 312 of device 400 causes at least one semiconductor layer 405 and / or NIC 410 to be deposited at a lower level than shown, and as a result, gaps may be formed in several layers below the glass cover in the lateral plane of at least one blind hole region 313 of the second portion 312 of device.

[0329] To reduce the undesirable optical effects that may result, in some non-limiting embodiments, refractive index matching filler material (not shown) may be deposited in several layers between the substrate 10 and the glass cover to fill such gaps. In some non-limiting embodiments, such filler material may include, but not limited to, cover glass and / or frit glass, an optical medium for reducing optical interference, including, but not limited to, that caused by internal reflections of EM signals in the display. In some non-limiting embodiments, the optical medium may have a refractive index that substantially matches the refractive index of at least one of the semiconductor layer 405, the substrate 10, and / or glass.

[0330] technology Organic optoelectronic devices may include any optoelectronic devices in which one or more active layers and / or layered portions of the device are formed primarily of organic (carbon-containing) materials, and more specifically, organic conductive materials.

[0331] If a photoelectronic device emits photons through a luminescent process, the device can be considered an electroluminescent device. In some non-limiting embodiments, the electroluminescent device may be an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) device. In some non-limiting embodiments, the electroluminescent device may be part of an electronic device. In non-limiting embodiments, the electroluminescent device may be an OLED lighting panel or module, and / or an OLED display or module for computing devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, and e-readers, and / or some other electronic devices such as monitors and / or television sets.

[0332] In some non-limiting embodiments, the optoelectronic device may be an organic photodiode (OPV) device that converts photons into electricity. In some non-limiting embodiments, the optoelectronic device may be an electroluminescent quantum disk (QD) device.

[0333] In this disclosure, unless otherwise specified, in some embodiments, such disclosures refer to OLED devices, with the understanding that they may be equally applicable to other optoelectronic devices, including but not limited to OPV and / or QD devices, in a manner obvious to those skilled in the art.

[0334] The structure of such a device can be described from each of two planes, namely from a cross-sectional view and / or from a lateral (plan view) plane.

[0335] In this disclosure, following the convention of a direction substantially normal to the transverse plane described above, the substrate may be considered the “bottom” of the device and layers may be disposed on the “top” of the substrate. Following such convention, the second electrode may be on the top surface of the shown device, even if the substrate can be physically inverted such that the top surface on which one of the layers, such as the first electrode, is disposed may be physically below the substrate, in order to allow a deposited material (not shown) to move upward and be deposited as a thin film on its uppermost surface.

[0336] In the context of describing cross-sections as described herein, components of such devices may be represented as substantially planar lateral layered portions. Those skilled in the art will understand that such substantially planar representations are for illustrative purposes only, extend over the lateral range of such devices, and that in some non-limiting embodiments, there may be localized substantially planar layered portions of varying thicknesses and dimensions, including substantially complete absence of layers and / or layers separated by non-planar transition regions (including lateral gaps and discontinuities). Thus, for illustrative purposes, the device is shown below in its cross-sectional side view as a substantially layered structure; however, in the planar aspects considered below, such devices may exhibit a variety of topography for defining feature portions, each of which may substantially represent the layered profile described in the cross-sectional side view.

[0337] In this disclosure, the terms “layer” and “layered portion” may be used interchangeably to refer to similar concepts.

[0338] The thicknesses of each layer shown in the diagram are illustrative and do not necessarily represent the thickness of other layers.

[0339] For the sake of simplicity, in this disclosure, a combination of multiple elements within a single layer may be indicated by a colon ":", while a combination of multiple elements comprising multiple layers within a multilayer coating may be indicated by separating two such layers with a slash " / ". In some non-limiting embodiments, the layer after the slash may be deposited after and / or on top of the layer preceding the slash.

[0340] For illustrative purposes, an exposed layer surface of a base material on which a coating, layer, and / or material is deposited may be understood as the surface of such base material presented for the deposition of the coating, layer, and / or material on the exposed layer surface at the time of deposition.

[0341] Those skilled in the art will understand that when a component, layer, region, and / or part thereof is referred to as being “formed,” “displaced,” and / or “deposited” on and / or over another base material, component, layer, region, and / or part thereof, such formation, arrangement, and / or deposition may exist directly and / or indirectly on the exposed layer surface (at the time of such formation, arrangement, and / or deposition) of such base material, component, layer, region, and / or part thereof, with material, component, layer, region, and / or part between them.

[0342] While this disclosure describes thin film formation with reference to at least one layer or coating in relation to deposition, those skilled in the art will understand that in some non-limiting embodiments, various components of a device may be selectively deposited using a wide variety of techniques, including but not limited to evaporation (including, but not limited to, thermal evaporation and / or electron beam evaporation), photolithography, printing (including, but not limited to, inkjet and / or vapor jet printing, reel-to-reel printing, and / or microcontact transfer printing), PVD (including, but not limited to, sputtering), chemical vapor deposition (CVD) (including, but not limited to, plasma-enhanced CVD (PECVD) and / or organic vapor phase growth (OVPD)), laser annealing, laser-induced thermal imaging (LITI) patterning, atomic layer deposition (ALD), coating (including, but not limited to, spin coating, di coating, line coating, and / or spray coating), and / or combinations thereof.

[0343] Various patterns can be achieved by using several processes in combination with shadow masks, which may be open masks and / or fine metal masks (FMMs) in some non-limiting embodiments, during the deposition of any of the various layers and / or coatings, thereby masking and / or eliminating the deposition of the deposited material onto certain portions of the surface of the substrate material exposed to this process.

[0344] In this disclosure, the terms “evaporation” and / or “sublimation” may be used interchangeably to refer to a deposition process in which source materials, including but not limited to those heated, are converted into vapors and deposited onto a target surface, which is in a solid state. As understood, an evaporation process may be a type of PVD process in which one or more source materials are evaporated and / or sublimated under low pressure (including but not limited to vacuum) conditions to form vapor monomers, which are then deposited onto a target surface through the back sublimation of one or more evaporated source materials. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various different evaporation sources can be used to heat the source materials, and therefore the source materials may be heated in various ways. In non-limiting embodiments, the source materials may be heated by electric filaments, electron beams, induction heating, and / or resistance heating. In some non-limiting embodiments, the source materials may be packed into heated crucibles, heated boats, Knudsen cells (which may be effusion evaporation sources), and / or any other type of evaporation source.

[0345] In some non-limiting embodiments, the deposition source material may be a mixture. In some non-limiting embodiments, at least one component of the mixture of deposition source material may not be deposited during the deposition process (or, in some non-limiting embodiments, may be deposited in relatively small amounts compared to the other components of such mixture).

[0346] In this disclosure, references to the layer thickness, film thickness, and / or average layer and / or film thickness of a material may refer to the amount of material deposited on the target exposed layer surface that corresponds to the amount of material that covers the target surface with a uniform thickness layer of material having the mentioned layer thickness, regardless of the mechanism of material deposition. In a non-limiting example, depositing a material with a layer thickness of 10 nm may indicate that the amount of material deposited on the surface may correspond to the amount of material that forms a uniform thickness layer of material that is 10 nm thick. With respect to the mechanism of thin film formation discussed above, in a non-limiting example, it will be understood that the actual thickness of the deposited material may be non-uniform due to possible stacking or clustering of monomers. In a non-limiting example, depositing a layer thickness of 10 nm may result in some portions of the deposited material having an actual thickness greater than 10 nm, or other portions having an actual thickness less than 10 nm. Thus, a particular layer thickness of material deposited on a surface may, in some non-limiting examples, correspond to the average thickness of the deposited material across the target surface.

[0347] In this disclosure, reference to reference layer thickness may refer to the thickness of a layer of deposited material, also referred to herein as a conductive coating, which can be deposited on a reference surface exhibiting a high initial adhesion probability or initial adhesion coefficient S0 (i.e., a surface having an initial adhesion probability S0 of about 1.0 and / or close to 1.0). Reference layer thickness may not indicate the actual thickness of the deposited material deposited on a target surface (such as, but not limited to, the surface of a NIC). Rather, reference layer thickness may refer to the thickness of a layer of deposited material that will be deposited on a reference surface, and in some non-limiting embodiments, on the surface of a quartz crystal positioned inside the deposition chamber to monitor the deposition rate and reference layer thickness when the target surface and the reference surface are exposed to the same vapor flux of the deposited material over the same deposition period. Those skilled in the art will understand that if the target surface and the reference surface are not simultaneously exposed to the same vapor flux during deposition, an appropriate tooling factor may be used to determine and / or monitor the reference layer thickness.

[0348] In this disclosure, the reference deposition rate may refer to the rate at which a layer of the deposition material would grow on a reference surface if the reference surface were identically positioned and configured within the deposition chamber as a sample surface.

[0349] In this disclosure, a reference to depositing a material with a monolayer number X may mean depositing a certain amount of material to cover a desired area of ​​the exposed layer surface with a monolayer of X constituent monomers of the material, such as but not limited to a closed coating.

[0350] In this disclosure, reference to depositing a monolayer of a fraction 1 / X of the material means depositing a certain amount of the material to cover a fraction 0.X of a desired area of ​​the surface with a single layer of the constituent monomers of the material. Those skilled in the art will understand, in non-limiting embodiments, that due to possible stacking and / or clustering of monomers, the actual local thickness of the deposited material over a desired area of ​​the surface may be non-uniform. In non-limiting embodiments, depositing a monolayer of the material may result in some local areas of a desired area of ​​the surface being left uncovered by the material, while other local areas of the desired area of ​​the surface may have numerous atomic and / or molecular layers deposited on top of them.

[0351] In this disclosure, a target surface (and / or its target area) may be deemed to be "substantially lacking in material," "substantially not containing," or "substantially not covered by" material if there is a substantial lack of material on the target surface as determined by any preferred determination mechanism.

[0352] In this disclosure, the terms “adhesion probability” and “adhesion coefficient” may be used interchangeably.

[0353] In this disclosure, the term “nucleation” may refer to the nucleation step in a thin-film formation process in which monomers in the gas phase condense on a surface to form nuclei.

[0354] In this disclosure, in some non-limiting embodiments, the terms “patterning coating” and “patterning material” may be used interchangeably to refer to similar concepts when indicated in context, and in the context of selectively depositing conductive coatings for patterning, references to patterning coatings herein may apply in some non-limiting embodiments to NIC materials in the context of their selective deposition for patterning deposited materials and / or electrode coating materials.

[0355] Similarly, in some non-limiting embodiments, when contextually indicated, the terms “patterning coating” and “patterning material” may be used interchangeably to refer to similar concepts, and in the context of selective deposition for patterning conductive coatings, references to NPC herein may, in some non-limiting embodiments, be applicable to NPC material in the context of its selective deposition for patterning electrode coatings.

[0356] The patterning material may be either nucleation-inhibiting or nucleation-promoting, but unless otherwise indicated in the context, references to patterning materials herein are intended to be references to NICs.

[0357] In some non-limiting embodiments, reference to patterning material may mean a coating having a specific composition as described herein.

[0358] In this disclosure, the terms “conductive coating” and “electrode coating” may be used interchangeably to refer to the same concept and reference to conductive coatings herein in the context of being patterned by selective deposition of NIC and / or NPC, and in some non-limiting embodiments, they may be applicable to electrode coatings in the context of being patterned by selective deposition of patterning material. In some non-limiting embodiments, reference to electrode coatings may mean coatings having a particular composition as described herein. Similarly, in this disclosure, the terms “deposited material,” “conductive coating material,” and “electrode coating material” may be used interchangeably to refer to the same concept and reference to conductive coating materials herein.

[0359] Those skilled in the art will understand that in this disclosure, organic materials may include, but are not limited to, a wide variety of organic molecules and / or organic polymers. Furthermore, those skilled in the art will understand that organic materials doped with various inorganic substances, including, but not limited to, elements and / or inorganic compounds, may still be considered organic materials. Still, a wide variety of organic materials may be used, and those skilled in the art will further understand that the processes described herein are generally applicable to the entire range of such organic materials. Furthermore, those skilled in the art will understand that organic materials containing metals and / or other organic elements may still be considered organic materials. Furthermore, those skilled in the art will understand that a wide variety of organic materials may be molecules, oligomers, and / or polymers.

[0360] As used herein, oligomer generally refers to a material comprising at least two monomer units or monomers. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, oligomers may differ from polymers in at least one embodiment, including but not limited to: (1) the number of monomer units contained in the oligomer, (2) molecular weight, and (3) other material attributes and / or properties. For further descriptions of polymers and oligomers as non-limiting examples, see Naka K. (2014) Monomers, Oligomers, Polymers, and Macromolecules (Overview), and Kobayashi S., Mullen K. (eds.) Encyclopedia of Polymeric Nanomaterials, Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

[0361] Oligomers or polymers generally contain monomer units that are chemically bonded together to form molecules. Such monomer units may be substantially identical to one another, such that the molecule is formed primarily by the repetition of monomer units, or the molecule may contain two or more different monomer units. In addition, the molecule may contain one or more terminal units that are different from the monomer units of the molecule. Oligomers or polymers may be linear, branched, cyclic, cyclolinear, and / or crosslinked. Oligomers or polymers may contain two or more different monomer units arranged in a repeating pattern and / or in alternating blocks of different monomer units.

[0362] In this disclosure, the term “semiconductor layer” may be used interchangeably with “organic layer” because, in some non-limiting embodiments, layers within an OLED device may include organic semiconductor materials.

[0363] In this disclosure, inorganic substances may refer to substances that primarily consist of inorganic materials. In this disclosure, inorganic materials may include, but are not limited to, metals, glass, and / or minerals, any material that is not considered an organic material.

[0364] In the present disclosure, the terms "photon" and "light" may be used interchangeably to refer to similar concepts. In the present disclosure, a photon may have a wavelength located in the visible spectrum, the infrared (IR) region (IR spectrum), the near-infrared region (NIR spectrum), the ultraviolet (UV) region (UV spectrum), and / or the UVA region (UVA spectrum) (which may correspond to a wavelength range of approximately 315 to 400 nm).

[0365] In the present disclosure, the term "visible spectrum" as used herein generally refers to at least one wavelength in the visible portion of the EM spectrum.

[0366] In the present disclosure, the term "emission spectrum" as used herein generally refers to the electroluminescence spectrum of light emitted by a optoelectronic device. As a non-limiting example, the emission spectrum can be detected using an optical instrument such as a spectrophotometer that measures the intensity of EM radiation over a certain wavelength range, as a non-limiting example.

[0367] In the present disclosure, the term "starting wavelength" λ onset can generally refer to the shortest wavelength at which emission is detected within the emission spectrum.

[0368] In the present disclosure, the term "peak wavelength" λ max can generally refer to the wavelength at which the maximum luminous intensity is detected within the emission spectrum.

[0369] In some non-limiting examples, the starting wavelength λ onset may be less than the peak wavelength λ max . In some non-limiting examples, the starting wavelength λ <http: / / www.google.com / patents / US20120021948A1?cl=en&from=search&id=0000097&q= onset corresponds to a wavelength at which the luminous intensity is about 10% or less, about 5% or less, about 3% or less, about 1% or less, about 0.5% or less, about 0.1% or less, or about 0.01% or less of the luminous intensity at the peak wavelength λ max .

[0370] As will be understood by those skilled in the art, such a visible portion can correspond to any wavelength between approximately 380 and 740 nm. Generally, electroluminescent devices emit light with wavelengths in the range of approximately 425 to 725 nm, more specifically, in some non-limiting embodiments, with peak emission wavelengths λ of 456 nm, 528 nm, and 624 nm, corresponding to the B (blue), G (green), and R (red) subpixels, respectively. e max The device may be configured to emit and / or transmit light having the visible portion. Thus, in the context of such an electroluminescent device, the visible portion may refer to any wavelength of about 425–725 nm, or about 456–624 nm. Photons having wavelengths in the visible spectrum may also be referred to herein as “visible light” in some non-limiting embodiments.

[0371] In some non-limiting embodiments, the emission spectrum located in the R (red) portion of the visible spectrum may have a peak wavelength λ in the wavelength range of approximately 600–640 nm. max It may be characterized by the following, and in non-limiting embodiments, it may be substantially about 620 nm.

[0372] In some non-limiting embodiments, the emission spectrum located in the G (green) portion of the visible spectrum may have a peak wavelength λ in the wavelength range of approximately 510–540 nm. max It may be characterized by the following, and in non-limiting embodiments, it may be substantially about 530 nm.

[0373] In some non-limiting embodiments, the emission spectrum located in the B (blue) portion of the visible spectrum may have a peak wavelength λ in the wavelength range of approximately 450–460 nm. max It may be characterized by, and in non-limiting embodiments, it may be substantially about 455 nm.

[0374] In this disclosure, the term “IR signal” as used herein may generally refer to EM radiation having wavelengths of the IR subset (IR spectrum) of the EM spectrum. In some non-limiting embodiments, the IR signal may have wavelengths corresponding to its near-infrared (NIR) subset (NIR spectrum). In some non-limiting embodiments, the NIR signal may have wavelengths of about 750–1400 nm, about 750–1300 nm, about 800–1300 nm, about 800–1200 nm, about 850–1300 nm, or about 900–1300 nm.

[0375] In this disclosure, the term “absorption spectrum” as used herein may generally refer to a wavelength (partial) range of the EM spectrum in which absorption may be concentrated.

[0376] In this disclosure, the terms “absorption edge,” “absorption discontinuity,” and / or “absorption limit” may generally refer to sharp discontinuities in the absorption spectrum of a material. In some non-limiting embodiments, absorption edges may tend to occur at wavelengths where the energy of absorbed photons corresponds to electronic transitions and / or ionization potentials.

[0377] In this disclosure, the term “absorption coefficient” as used herein may generally refer to the degree to which the EM coefficient attenuates as it propagates through a material. In some non-limiting embodiments, the absorption coefficient may be understood to correspond to the imaginary component k of the complex refractive index N. In some non-limiting embodiments, the absorption coefficient k of a material may be measured by a variety of methods, including but not limited to polarization analysis.

[0378] In this disclosure, the terms “refractive index” and / or “index” as used herein to describe a medium may refer to a value calculated from the ratio of the speed of light in such a medium to the speed of light in a vacuum. In this disclosure, when used to describe the attributes of substantially transparent materials, including but not limited to thin films and / or coatings, these terms may correspond to the real part n in the equation N = n + ik, where N represents the complex refractive index and k represents the absorption coefficient.

[0379] As those skilled in the art will understand, substantially transparent materials, including but not limited to thin films and / or coatings, generally exhibit relatively low k values ​​in the visible spectrum, and therefore the imaginary component of the formula may contribute little to the complex refractive index N. On the other hand, for example, a light-transmitting electrode formed from a thin metal film may exhibit relatively low n values ​​and relatively high k values ​​in the visible spectrum. Therefore, the complex refractive index N of such a thin film can be determined mainly by its imaginary component k.

[0380] In this disclosure, unless otherwise indicated by the context, any non-specific reference to a refractive index may be intended to refer to the real part n of the complex refractive index N.

[0381] In some non-limiting embodiments, there may be a generally positive correlation between the refractive index n and transmittance, or in other words, a generally negative correlation between the refractive index n and absorption. In some non-limiting embodiments, the absorption edge of a material may correspond to wavelengths where the extinction coefficient k is close to 0.

[0382] It will be understood that the refractive index n and / or absorption coefficient k values ​​described herein may correspond to such values ​​measured at wavelengths in the visible range of the EM spectrum. In some non-limiting embodiments, the refractive index n and / or absorption coefficient k values ​​may correspond to values ​​measured at wavelengths of approximately 456 nm, which may correspond to the peak emission wavelength of the B (blue) subpixel, approximately 528 nm, which may correspond to the peak emission wavelength of the G (green) subpixel, and / or approximately 624 nm, which may correspond to the peak emission wavelength of the R (red) subpixel. In some non-limiting embodiments, the refractive index n and / or absorption coefficient k values ​​described herein may correspond to values ​​measured at a wavelength of approximately 589 nm, which may correspond approximately to the Fraunhofer D line.

[0383] In this disclosure, the concept of a pixel may be considered in conjunction with the concept of at least one subpixel. For the sake of simplicity, such a combined concept may be referred to herein as a “(sub)pixel,” and such terminology is understood to suggest that either or both of a pixel and / or at least one subpixel may be such unless otherwise indicated in the context.

[0384] In some non-limiting embodiments, one measure of the amount of material on a surface may be the percentage coverage of the surface by such material. In some non-limiting embodiments, surface coverage may be evaluated using a variety of imaging techniques, including but not limited to TEM, AFM, and / or SEM.

[0385] In this disclosure, the terms “particle,” “island,” and “cluster” may be used interchangeably to refer to similar concepts.

[0386] In this disclosure, for the sake of simplicity of explanation, the terms “coating film,” “closed coating,” and / or “closed coating” as used herein refer to thin film structures and / or coatings of conductive coating materials used in conductive coatings that can substantially coat relevant portions of a surface, thereby preventing such surfaces from being substantially exposed by or through the coating film deposited thereon.

[0387] In this disclosure, unless otherwise indicated by the context, any non-specific reference to a thin film may be intended to refer to a substantially closed coating.

[0388] In some non-limiting embodiments, the closed coating of the conductive coating and / or conductive coating material may be arranged to cover a portion of the base surface, such that within such portion, less than 40%, less than 30%, less than 25%, less than 20%, less than 15%, less than 10%, less than 5%, less than 3%, or less than 1% of the base surface within such portion is exposed by or through the closed coating.

[0389] Those skilled in the art will understand that closed coatings can be patterned using a variety of techniques and processes, including but not limited to those described herein, such that a portion of the exposed layer surface of the base surface is intentionally left exposed after the deposition of the closed coating. In this disclosure, such a patterned film may nevertheless be considered to constitute a closed coating if, in the context of such patterning, the thin film deposited between such intentionally exposed portions of the exposed layer surface of the base surface and / or the coating itself substantially includes the closed coating.

[0390] Those skilled in the art will know that, due to inherent variability in the deposition process, and in some non-limiting embodiments, the presence of impurities on either or both of the deposition material, the conductive coating material, and the substrate material's exposed layer surface, the deposition of thin films using a variety of techniques and processes, including but not limited to those described herein, may nevertheless result in the formation of small openings, including but not limited to pinholes, cracks, and / or fissures. In this disclosure, such thin films may nevertheless be considered to constitute a closed coating if, in some non-limiting embodiments, the deposited thin film and / or coating substantially comprises a closed coating and, despite the presence of such openings, satisfies any specified percentage coverage criterion listed herein.

[0391] For the sake of simplicity, as used herein, the term “discontinuous coating” may refer to a thin film structure and / or coating of a material used for conductive coatings, such that a relevant portion of the surface to be coated may not substantially lack such material or form a closed coating. In some non-limiting embodiments, a discontinuous coating of a conductive coating material may appear as a plurality of discrete islands arranged on such a surface.

[0392] For the sake of simplicity, in this disclosure, the result of the deposition of vapor monomers onto the exposed surface of a base material before the stage in which a closed coating has been formed may be referred to as an “intermediate layer.” In some non-limiting embodiments, such an intermediate layer may reflect that the deposition process is not yet complete, and such an intermediate layer may be considered an intermediate stage in the formation of a closed coating. In some non-limiting embodiments, the intermediate layer may be the result of a completed deposition process and therefore constitute the final stage in and in its formation.

[0393] In some non-limiting embodiments, the intermediate step layer may more closely resemble a thin film than a discontinuous coating, but may have openings and / or gaps in the surface coating, including but not limited to one or more dendrites and / or one or more dendritic depressions. In some non-limiting embodiments, such an intermediate step layer may include a fraction 1 / X of a single monolayer of the deposited material such that the deposited material does not form a closed coating.

[0394] For the sake of simplicity, in this disclosure, the term “dendritic” with respect to a coating, including but not limited to a conductive coating, may refer to a feature portion that resembles a branched structure when viewed from a lateral view. In some non-limiting embodiments, a conductive coating may include dendrites and / or dendritic depressions. In some non-limiting embodiments, a dendrite may correspond to a portion of a conductive coating exhibiting a branched structure comprising a number of short projections that are physically connected and substantially extend outward. In some non-limiting embodiments, a dendritic depression may correspond to a branched structure of gaps, openings, and / or uncovered portions of a conductive coating that are physically connected and substantially extend outward. In some non-limiting embodiments, a dendritic depression may correspond to a pattern of dendrites, including but not limited to mirror images and / or inverse patterns. In some non-limiting embodiments, a dendrite and / or dendritic depression may have a configuration that exhibits and / or mimics a fractal pattern, mesh, web, and / or interlocking structure.

[0395] In some non-limiting embodiments, sheet resistance may be an attribute of a component, layer, and / or part that can alter the characteristics of the current passing through such component, layer, and / or part. In some non-limiting embodiments, the sheet resistance of a coating may generally correspond to the characteristic sheet resistance of the coating, measured and / or determined separately from other components, layers, and / or parts of the device.

[0396] In this disclosure, deposition density may refer to the distribution within a region, which in some non-limiting embodiments may include the area and / or volume of the deposited material within the region. Those skilled in the art will understand that such deposition density may be independent of the mass or density of the material within the particles themselves that may contain such deposited material. In this disclosure, unless otherwise indicated by the context, references to deposition density and / or density may be intended to refer to the distribution of such deposited material, which includes but is not limited to at least one particle within a given area.

[0397] In some non-limiting embodiments, the bond dissociation energy of a metal may correspond to the standard state enthalpy change measured at 298 K from the breaking of a bond in a diatomic molecule formed by two identical atoms of the metal. The bond dissociation energy may be determined based on known literature, including but not limited to Luo, Yu-Ran, "Bond Dissociation Energies" (2010), in non-limiting embodiments.

[0398] Where any feature or aspect of this disclosure describes in relation to the Markush Group, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that this disclosure also describes any individual element of any subgroup of such elements of the Markush Group.

[0399] Unless otherwise specified, a singular reference may include a plural form, and vice versa.

[0400] As used herein, relational terms such as "first" and "second," and numbered devices such as "a" and "b," may be used solely to distinguish one object or element from another, without necessarily requiring or implying any physical or logical relationship or order between such objects or elements.

[0401] The terms “including” and “comprising” may be used in a broad and open-ended manner and should therefore be interpreted as “including, but not limited to.” The terms “examples” and “exemplary” may be used merely to identify examples for illustrative purposes and should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the invention to the examples described. In particular, the term “exemplary” should not be interpreted as indicating or conferring praise, benefit, or other quality in the expression in which it is used, from a design, performance, or other viewpoint.

[0402] Furthermore, the term “critical” may be a term well known to those skilled in the art, particularly when used in expressions such as “critical nucleus,” “critical nucleation rate,” “critical concentration,” “critical cluster,” “critical monomer,” “critical particle size,” and / or “critical surface tension,” including relating to, or being in, a measured value or point where some quality, attribute, or phenomenon undergoes a clear change. Therefore, the term “critical” should not be interpreted as indicating or conferring any significance or importance to the expression in which it is used, from a design, performance, or other standpoint.

[0403] Any form of the terms “to connect” and “to communicate” may be intended to mean either a direct or indirect connection through some interface, device, intermediate component, or connection, whether optical, electrical, mechanical, chemical, or otherwise.

[0404] When used in relation to a first component relative to another component, the terms “on,” “over,” “covering,” and / or “covers” of another component may encompass situations where the first component is directly on (physically in contact with) the other component, as well as situations where one or more intervening components are positioned between the first component and the other component.

[0405] Directional terms such as “upward,” “downward,” “left,” and “right” may be used to refer to directions in the referenced drawings unless otherwise stated. Similarly, terms such as “inward” and “outward” may be used to refer to directions toward and away from a device, the geometric center of the device’s area or volume or specialized part, and directions toward and away from it, respectively. Furthermore, all dimensions described herein may be intended only as examples for the purpose of illustrating a particular embodiment, and the scope of this disclosure may not be intended to be limited to any embodiment that deviates from such dimensions.

[0406] As used herein, the terms “substantially,” “effectively,” “approximately,” and / or “about” may be used to indicate and consider small variations. When used in conjunction with events or situations, such terms may refer not only to instances in which the event or situation occurs exactly, but also to instances in which the event or situation occurs approximately. In a non-limiting example, when used in conjunction with numerical values, such terms may refer to a range of variations of such numerical values ​​of approximately ±10% or less, such as ±5% or less, ±4% or less, ±3% or less, ±2% or less, ±1% or less, ±0.5% or less, ±0.1% or less, or ±0.05% or less.

[0407] Where used herein, the phrase “substantially consists of” may be understood to include these specifically enumerated elements and any additional elements that do not substantially affect the fundamental and novel features of the technology described; however, the phrase “consisting of” without any modifying phrase may exclude any elements that are not specifically enumerated.

[0408] As will be understood by those skilled in the art, and for all purposes, particularly in terms of providing written explanations, all scopes disclosed herein may also encompass any possible sub-scopes and / or combinations thereof. Any scopes listed arbitrarily can be readily recognized as fully explaining and enabling the division of the same scope into at least its equal fractions, including but not limited to 1 / 2, 1 / 3, 1 / 4, 1 / 5, 1 / 10, etc. In non-limiting embodiments, each scope considered herein can be readily divided into a lower third, a middle third, and / or an upper third, etc.

[0409] Furthermore, as will be understood by those skilled in the art, all words and / or technical terms such as “maximum,” “at least,” “greater than,” and “less than” include and / or refer to the enumerated ranges, and may also refer to ranges that can subsequently be divided into subranges, as will be considered herein.

[0410] As will be understood by those skilled in the art, the scope includes each individual element of the enumerated scope.

[0411] overview The purpose of the abstract is to enable relevant patent offices or general users, specifically those skilled in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terminology or phrasing, to make a quick decision based on a general examination and the nature of the technical disclosure. The abstract is not intended to define or limit the scope of the disclosure.

[0412] The structure, manufacture, and use of the currently disclosed embodiments are discussed above. The specific embodiments discussed are merely illustrative of specific methods for creating and using the concepts disclosed herein and do not limit the scope of this disclosure. Rather, the general principles described herein are considered merely illustrative of the scope of this disclosure.

[0413] This disclosure, described by the claims rather than the details of the provided implementation, and which can be modified by alteration, omission, addition, or substitution, and / or by the absence of any elements and / or limitations having functional elements of substitutes and / or equivalents, should be understood to those skilled in the art, whether or not they are specifically disclosed herein, and which can provide many applicable inventive concepts that can be applied to the examples disclosed herein and can be embodied in a wide variety of specific contexts without deviating from this disclosure.

[0414] In particular, the features, techniques, systems, subsystems, and methods described and illustrated in one or more of the above embodiments are described individually or separately, and whether illustrated or not, alternative embodiments can be created without departing from the scope of this disclosure by combining or integrating with other systems, resulting in combinations or partial combinations of features not expressly described above, or in which certain features are omitted or not implemented. Feature elements suitable for such combinations and partial combinations will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon reviewing the entire application. Other examples of changes, substitutions, and modifications are readily verifiable and can be made without departing from the spirit and scope disclosed herein.

[0415] The principles, aspects, and embodiments of this disclosure, as well as all descriptions herein listing specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass both their structural and functional equivalents and to cover and include all preferred variations in the art. Additionally, such equivalents are intended to include both currently known equivalents and those to be developed in the future, i.e., any developed elements that perform the same function regardless of their structure.

[0416] This disclosure includes, but is not limited to, the following provisions:

[0417] 1 A display panel having multiple layers and extending to a first and second portion of at least one transverse surface defined by a transverse axis, wherein the panel is adapted to receive at least one electromagnetic (EM) signal through the second portion at an angle to the layers for replacement with at least one under-display component, and the panel comprises at least one closed coating of a deposited material disposed on the exposed layer surface of the panel in the first portion, The second part is a display panel that substantially lacks a closed coating of the deposited material. 2 The panel is adapted to mate with a body for housing at least one under-display component to form a user device, the first portion comprising at least one emission area for emitting at least one EM signal from the body, as described in Clause 1. 3. At least one under-display component is: A receiver adapted to receive at least one EM signal passing through the panel beyond the user device, A transmitter adapted to emit light, and at least one of the following: The panel as described in Clause 1 or 2. 4. The panel according to any one of the clauses 1 to 3, wherein at least one under-display component includes a receiving unit for receiving at least one EM signal that passes through the user device and then through the panel. 5. At least one EM signal that passes through the user device and then through the panel originates from the panel, is reflected by the surface, and passes back through the panel as described in Clause 4. 6 At least one EM signal emanating from the panel, At least one under-display component, and passing through the non-emitting area of ​​the panel, A panel as described in Clause 5, which is emitted by at least one of the emission areas of the panel. 7. A panel according to any one of clauses 1 to 6, wherein at least one under-display component includes a transmitter adapted to emit at least one EM signal that passes through the panel beyond a user device. 8 A display panel having multiple layers and extending to a first and second portion of at least one transverse surface defined by a transverse axis, wherein the panel is adapted to receive at least one electromagnetic (EM) signal through the second portion at an angle to the layers, and comprises at least one closed coating of a deposited material disposed on the exposed layer surface of the panel in the first portion, The second part is a display panel that substantially lacks a closed coating of the deposited material. 9. The second portion further comprises a nucleation suppression coating (NIC) on the exposed layer surface of the panel, and the initial adhesion probability for depositing the deposition material onto the surface of the NIC in the first portion is, 0.3 and, The panel according to Clause 8, wherein the initial adhesion probability for depositing the sedimentary material onto the surface of the exposed layer is substantially smaller than at least one of the following: 10. NIC is a panel as described in Clause 9, including NIC material. 11 The panel according to Clause 9 or 10, wherein at least one of the NIC and NIC material has an initial adhesion probability S0 of the deposited material that is less than at least one of about 0.9, about 0.3, about 0.2, about 0.15, about 0.1, about 0.08, about 0.05, about 0.03, about 0.02, about 0.01, about 0.008, about 0.005, about 0.003, about 0.001, about 0.0008, about 0.0005, about 0.0003, and about 0.0001. 12 The panel according to Clause 9 or 10, wherein at least one of the NIC and NIC material has an initial deposition probability S0 of at least one of silver (Ag) and magnesium (Mg) which is less than at least one of about 0.9, about 0.3, about 0.2, about 0.15, about 0.1, about 0.08, about 0.05, about 0.03, about 0.02, about 0.01, about 0.008, about 0.005, about 0.003, about 0.001, about 0.0008, about 0.0005, about 0.0003, and about 0.0001. 13. At least one of the NIC and NIC materials is approximately 0.15-0.0001, approximately 0.1-0.0003, approximately 0.08-0.0005, approximately 0.08-0.0008, approximately 0.05-0.001, approximately 0.03-0.0001, approximately 0.03-0.0003, approximately 0.03-0.0005, approximately 0.03-0.0008, approximately 0. 0.03~0.001, approximately 0.03~0.005, approximately 0.03~0.008, approximately 0.03~0.01, approximately 0.02~0.0001, approximately 0.02~0.0003, approximately 0.02~0.0005, approximately 0.02~0.0008, approximately 0.02~0.001, approximately 0.02~0.005, approximately 0.02~0.008, approximately 0.02~0.01 Approximately 0.01-0.0001, approximately 0.01-0.0003, approximately 0.01-0.0005, approximately 0.01-0.0008, approximately 0.01-0.001, approximately 0, 0.01-0.005, approximately 0.01-0.008, approximately 0.008-0.0001, approximately 0.008-0.0003, approximately 0.008-0.0005, approximately 0.008-0.00 A panel according to any one of clauses 9 to 11, having an initial adhesion probability S0 of the sedimentary material, which is approximately 0.008 to 0.001, approximately 0.008 to 0.005, approximately 0.005 to 0.0001, approximately 0.005 to 0.0003, approximately 0.005 to 0.0005, approximately 0.005 to 0.0008, and approximately 0.005 to 0.001. 14. The NIC material is a panel according to any one of the clauses 9 to 12, having an initial adhesion probability S0 which is less than the threshold of at least one of several different deposition materials. 15 The panel as described in Clause 14, wherein the multiple materials are selected from at least one of silver (Ag), magnesium (Mg), ytterbium (Yb), cadmium (Cd), and zinc (Zn). 16 The panel according to Clause 14 or 15, wherein the NIC material has an initial adhesion probability S0 of a first material among a plurality of deposition materials that is below a first threshold, and an initial adhesion probability S0 of a second material among a plurality of deposition materials. 17. The panel described in Clause 16, where the first threshold is greater than the second threshold. 18 A panel according to any one of the NIC and NIC materials, wherein at least one of them has a light transmittance of at least a threshold transmittance value after being exposed to a silver (Ag) vapor flux. 19. The steam flux is at least about 10 -4 Torr and about 10 -5 The panel as described in Clause 18, with a Torr vacuum pressure. 20 The vapor flux has a deposition rate of approximately 1 angstrom (Å) / second, as described in Clause 18 or 19. 21. A panel as described in any one of clauses 18-20, to which vapor flux is applied until a reference thickness of 15 nm is reached. 22 The panel described in any one of clauses 18 to 21, on which the steam flux is applied, is at a temperature of approximately 25°C. 23. The panel described in any one of clauses 18 to 22, where the surface to which the vapor flux is applied is located approximately 65 cm away from the source of Ag evaporation. 24. The threshold transmittance value is selected from at least one of approximately 60%, approximately 65%, approximately 70%, approximately 75%, approximately 80%, approximately 85%, and approximately 90% for the panel as described in any one of clauses 18 to 23. 25. The threshold transmittance value is measured at a wavelength of approximately 460 nm for the panel as described in any one of clauses 18 to 24. 26 A panel according to any one of Clauses 9 to 25, wherein at least one of the NIC and NIC material has a surface energy (Y1) less than at least one of about 24 dynes / cm, about 20 dynes / cm, about 19 dynes / cm, about 18 dynes / cm, about 17 dynes / cm, about 16 dynes / cm, about 15 dynes / cm, about 14 dynes / cm, about 12 dynes / cm, about 11 dynes / cm, about 10 dynes / cm, about 9 dynes / cm, and about 8 dynes / cm. 27 A panel according to any one of the clauses 9 to 26, wherein at least one of the NIC and NIC material has a surface energy (Y1) of about 13 to 20 dynes / cm and about 13 to 19 dynes / cm. 28 A panel according to any one of the NIC and NIC materials, wherein at least one of them has a refractive index n for photons with a wavelength of 550 nm, which is less than at least one of about 1.55, about 1.5, about 1.45, about 1.43, about 1.4, about 1.39, about 1.38, about 1.37, about 1.35, about 1.32, and about 1.3. 29 A panel according to any one of the clauses 9 to 28, wherein at least one of the NIC and NIC material has an absorption coefficient k of less than 0.01 for photons with wavelengths greater than at least one of about 600 nm, about 500 nm, about 460 nm, about 420 nm, and about 410 nm. 30 A panel according to any one of the NIC and NIC materials, wherein at least one of them has an absorption coefficient k which may be greater than about 0.05, greater than about 0.1, greater than about 0.2, and greater than about 0.5 for photons with wavelengths shorter than at least one of about 400 nm, about 390 nm, about 380 nm, and about 370 nm. 31 At least one of the NIC and NIC materials has a glass transition temperature T of less than about 300°C, less than about 150°C, less than about 130°C, less than about 30°C, less than about 0°C, less than about -30°C, and less than -50°C. g A panel having any one of the clauses 9 to 30. 32 The NIC material is a panel according to any one of clauses 9 to 31, having sublimation temperatures of approximately 100 to 320°C, approximately 120 to 300°C, approximately 140 to 280°C, and approximately 150 to 250°C. 33 A panel according to any one of Clauses 9 to 32, wherein at least one of the NIC and NIC material contains at least one of fluorine (F) and silicon (Si). 34 The NIC material is a compound containing F, as described in Clause 33. 35 The NIC material is a compound containing F and carbon (C), as described in Clause 34. 36 The NIC material comprises F and C in atomic ratios corresponding to at least one of the F / C quotients of at least about 1, at least about 1.5, and at least about 2, as described in Clause 35. 37. NIC material is a panel as described in any one of clauses 33 to 36, comprising an oligomer. 38. The NIC material is a panel according to any one of the clauses 33 to 37, having a molecular structure comprising a main chain and at least one functional group bonded to the main chain. 39. The NIC material is the panel described in Clause 38, which contains a siloxane group. 40 The main chain comprises a siloxane group, as described in clause 38 or 39. 41 A panel according to any one of the clauses 38 to 40, wherein at least one functional group comprises F. 42 The panel according to Clause 41, wherein at least one functional group comprises a fluoroalkyl group. 43. NIC material is a panel according to any one of clauses 38 to 42, comprising a silsesquioxane group. 44. NIC material is a panel as described in any one of clauses 38 to 43, comprising an aryl group. 45 NIC material is a panel as described in any one of clauses 38 to 44, comprising hydrocarbon groups. 46. ​​NIC material is a panel according to any one of clauses 38 to 45, comprising a phosphazene group. 47. The NIC material comprises substituted or unsubstituted linear, branched, or cyclic hydrocarbon groups, as described in any one of the clauses 38 to 46. 48 The panel according to Clause 47, wherein at least one carbon atom in the substituent is substituted by a heteroatom selected from at least one of oxygen (O), nitrogen (N), and sulfur (S). 49. NIC material is a panel as described in any one of clauses 38 to 48, comprising a fluoropolymer. 50 NIC material is a panel as described in any one of clauses 38 to 49, including a metal complex. 51 NIC material is a panel as described in any one of clauses 38 to 50, including organic-inorganic hybrid materials. 52 The NIC material is doped with another material that acts as a nucleation site on the NIC material, as described in any one of Clauses 10 to 51. 53 A panel according to any one of Clauses 9 to 52, further comprising a high refractive index medium extending along the surface of the NIC, wherein the NIC includes a low refractive index coating having a refractive index less than that of the high refractive index medium. 54 The panel described in Clause 53, which includes a high refractive index medium, including a high refractive index coating. 54 The panel according to clause 53 or 54, comprising a high refractive index medium and a coating layer. 55 The panel according to Clause 53 or 54, wherein the high refractive index medium includes lithium fluoride (LiF). 56 A panel according to Clause 53, comprising a high refractive index medium and voids. 57 The second part is a panel according to any one of the clauses 8 to 56, comprising at least one particle structure made of sedimentary material. 58 The panel according to Clause 57, wherein at least one particle structure forms a discontinuous layer disposed on the exposed layer surface of the NIC. 59 The second part is the panel according to clause 57 or 58, comprising a UVA absorbing layer. 60 The panel according to Clause 59, wherein the UVA absorbing layer comprises at least one particle structure. 61 The second part is a panel according to any one of the clauses 8 to 60, comprising a UVA absorbing layer. 62 The panel according to clause 61, wherein the UVA absorbing layer comprises at least one particle structure made of a deposited material. 63 A panel according to any one of the clauses 8 to 62, further comprising a low refractive index coating disposed on the exposed layer surface of the panel in a second portion, and a high refractive index medium extending along the surface of the low refractive index coating, wherein the refractive index of the low refractive index coating is less than the refractive index of the high refractive index medium. 64 The low refractive index coating includes a nucleation suppression coating (NIC), and the initial adhesion probability for depositing a material onto the surface of the NIC in the first portion is: 0.3 and, The panel according to Clause 63, wherein the initial adhesion probability for depositing the sedimentary material onto the surface of the exposed layer is substantially smaller than at least one of the following: 65 A panel according to Clause 63 or 64, which includes a high refractive index medium and a high refractive index coating. 66 A panel according to any one of clauses 63 to 65, including a coating layer, which is a high refractive index medium. 67. A panel as described in any one of clauses 63 to 66, wherein the high refractive index medium includes lithium fluoride (LiF). 68 A panel according to clause 63 or 64, comprising a high refractive index medium and having voids. 69 The panel according to any one of the clauses 8 to 68, wherein the exposed layer surface of the panel in the first portion is a base coating that extends substantially continuously across both the first and second portions. 70 The exposed layer surface of the panel is substantially coplanar with and coexists with the exposed layer surface of the EM panel in the second portion, as described in any one of Clauses 8 to 69. 71 A panel according to any one of the clauses 8 to 70, wherein at least one closed coating substantially suppresses the transmission of EM signals through the coating closed at an angle to the layer. 72 The panel according to any one of the clauses 8 to 71, wherein the second part is a feature portion that substantially lacks any feature portion that substantially suppresses the transmission of EM signals through the feature portion at a certain angle to the layer. 73. A panel according to any one of clauses 8 to 72, wherein the deposited material is substantially conductive. 74. A panel according to any one of clauses 8 to 73, wherein the average thickness of at least one closed coating is approximately 5 to 80 nm. 75 The panel according to any one of the clauses 8 to 74, wherein the first part comprises at least one emission area for emitting an EM signal at an angle to the layer. 76 circuit board and A semiconductor layer disposed on a substrate, Furthermore, Each emission region is equipped with a first electrode and a second electrode, The first electrode is disposed between the substrate and at least one semiconductor layer. The panel according to Clause 75, wherein at least one semiconductor layer is disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode. 77 The second electrode is a panel according to Clause 76, comprising at least one closed coating of the deposited material. 78 The panel according to clause 76 or 77, wherein the exposed layer surface of the panel is the exposed layer surface of at least one semiconductor layer. 79 The panel according to any one of the clauses 76 to 78, wherein the substrate extends substantially continuously across both the first and second portions. 80 The panel according to Clause 79, wherein at least one semiconductor layer extends substantially continuously across both the first and second portions. 81 The first part is a panel as described in any one of the clauses 76 to 80, comprising multiple emission areas. 82 The panel according to Clause 81, wherein the first portion comprises at least one non-emitting area between adjacent emitting areas. 83 The second part is a panel as described in any one of the clauses 876-82, which substantially lacks any emission area. 84 A panel according to any one of the clauses 8 to 83, further comprising at least one coating layer disposed on the exposed surface of at least one closed coating in the first part and on the exposed surface of the panel in the second part. 85 The panel according to Clause 84, wherein at least one coating layer is selected from at least one of the following: a barrier coating, a glass cap, a thin film encapsulation (TFE) layer, a polarizer, an optically clear adhesive (OCA), a touchscreen material, a glass cover, and any combination thereof. 86 User devices, A display panel having multiple layers and extending to a first and second portion of at least one lateral surface defined by a horizontal axis, A display comprising at least one under-display component adapted to exchange at least one electromagnetic (EM) signal through a second portion of the panel at an angle to the layer, The panel comprises at least one closed coating of a deposit material disposed on the exposed layer surface of the panel in the first portion, The second part is a user device that substantially lacks a closed coating of deposited coating.

[0418] Therefore, this specification and the examples disclosed herein should be considered illustrative only, and the true scope of this disclosure is disclosed by the claims numbered below.

Claims

1. A display panel having multiple layers and extending to a first and second portion of at least one side defined by a transverse axis, wherein the display panel has a blind hole region in the second portion, and the display panel is adapted to receive the at least one electromagnetic (EM) signal through the blind hole region of the second portion at an angle to the multiple layers in order to exchange at least one electromagnetic (EM) signal using at least one under-display component, and the display panel has at least one closing coating of a deposited material disposed on the exposed layer surface of the display panel in the first portion. The first part comprises at least one emission region for emitting an EM signal at a certain angle to the plurality of layers, The second portion lacks a closure coating of the deposited material, and the second portion comprises at least one particle structure made of the deposited material, wherein the at least one particle structure is greater than 0 nm and has a maximum threshold size of less than 200 nm. The aforementioned blind hole region lacks any emission region in the display panel.

2. The at least one under-display component is A receiver adapted to receive at least one EM signal, and Transmitter adapted to emit at least one EM signal Includes at least one of the following: The display panel according to claim 1, wherein the at least one EM signal passes through the display panel to a user device, and the user device includes the display panel.

3. A display panel having multiple layers and extending to a first and second portion of at least one side defined by a transverse axis, wherein the display panel has a blind hole region in the second portion, and the display panel is adapted to receive at least one electromagnetic (EM) signal through the blind hole region of the second portion at an angle to the multiple layers, and the display panel has at least one closing coating of a deposited material disposed on the exposed layer surface of the display panel in the first portion. The first part comprises at least one emission region for emitting an EM signal at a certain angle to the plurality of layers, The second portion lacks a closure coating of the deposited material, and the second portion comprises at least one particle structure made of the deposited material, wherein the at least one particle structure is greater than 0 nm and has a maximum threshold size of less than 200 nm. The aforementioned blind hole region lacks any emission region in the display panel.

4. The display panel according to claim 3, further comprising a nucleation-inhibiting coating (NIC) on the exposed layer surface of the display panel in the second portion.

5. The display panel according to claim 4, wherein the initial adhesion probability for depositing the deposition material on the surface of the NIC in the second portion is smaller than at least one of 0.3 and the initial adhesion probability for depositing the deposition material on the surface of the exposed layer.

6. The display panel according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein the second portion comprises a UVA absorbing layer.

7. The display panel according to any one of claims 3 to 6, further comprising a low refractive index coating disposed on the exposed layer surface of the display panel in the second portion, and a high refractive index medium extending along the surface of the low refractive index coating, wherein the refractive index of the low refractive index coating is smaller than the refractive index of the high refractive index medium.

8. The display panel according to any one of claims 3 to 7, wherein the deposited material comprises at least one of silver (Ag) and ytterbium (Yb).

9. The display panel according to any one of claims 3 to 8, wherein the average film thickness of the at least one closed coating is 5 nm to 80 nm.

10. The aforementioned display panel is circuit board and At least one semiconductor layer disposed on the substrate and Furthermore, Each emission region includes a first electrode and a second electrode, The first electrode is disposed between the substrate and the at least one semiconductor layer. The display panel according to claim 3, wherein the at least one semiconductor layer is disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode.

11. The display panel according to claim 10, wherein the second electrode comprises the at least one closure coating of the deposited material.

12. The display panel according to claim 10 or claim 11, wherein the exposed layer surface of the display panel is the exposed layer surface of at least one semiconductor layer.

13. The display panel according to any one of claims 10 to 12, wherein the substrate extends continuously across both the first portion and the second portion.

14. The display panel according to claim 13, wherein the at least one semiconductor layer extends continuously across both the first and second portions.

15. The first part comprises a plurality of emission regions, as described in any one of claims 10 to 13.

16. The display panel according to claim 15, wherein the first portion comprises at least one non-emitting region between adjacent emitting regions.

17. The display panel according to any one of claims 10 to 16, wherein the second portion lacks any emission area.

18. The display panel according to any one of claims 4 to 17, further comprising at least one coating layer disposed on the exposed layer surface of the at least one closure coating in the first portion and on the exposed layer surface of the display panel in the second portion.

19. It is a user device, A display panel having multiple layers and extending to a first portion and a second portion of at least one side defined by a horizontal axis, wherein the display panel has a blind hole region in the second portion, At an angle with respect to the plurality of layers, at least one under-display component adapted to exchange at least one electromagnetic (EM) signal through the blind-hole region of the second portion of the display panel and Equipped with, The display panel comprises at least one closing coating of a deposited material disposed on the exposed layer surface of the display panel in the first portion, The first part comprises at least one emission region for emitting an EM signal at a certain angle to the plurality of layers, The second portion lacks a closure coating of the deposited material, and the second portion comprises at least one particle structure made of the deposited material, wherein the at least one particle structure is greater than 0 nm and has a maximum threshold size of less than 200 nm. The aforementioned blind hole region lacks any emission region in the user device.

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