Organic light-emitting diode displays with planarization layers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12446396-B2
Application number	US-202217968280-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 18, 2022
Priority date	Dec 1, 2021
Publication date	Oct 14, 2025
Grant date	Oct 14, 2025

Abstract

An electronic device may have a display such as an organic light-emitting diode display. The organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display may have an array of organic light-emitting diode pixels that each have OLED layers interposed between a cathode and an anode. A first passivation layer, a first planarization layer, and a second passivation layer may be formed over the cathode. The first and second passivation layers may be formed from inorganic material. A second planarization layer may be formed over the second passivation layer between the second passivation layer and a polarizer. The second planarization layer may planarize the polarizer at the edges of the active area of the display where the polarizer would otherwise have a steep taper. Planarizing the polarizer in this way mitigates undesirable secondary reflections off of the polarizer. The first and second planarization layers may be formed from organic material.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device with a display, the electronic device comprising:
a substrate;
an array of display pixels arranged on the substrate in a light-emitting area of the display;
a first passivation layer that is formed over the array of display pixels;
a first planarization layer that is formed over the first passivation layer;
a second passivation layer that is formed over the first planarization layer;
a second planarization layer that is formed over the second passivation layer; and
a polarizer that is formed over the second planarization layer, wherein the second planarization layer has a first portion that overlaps the light-emitting area and a second portion that overlaps a non-light-emitting area of the display, wherein the first portion of the second planarization layer has a first thickness, wherein the second portion of the second planarization layer has a second thickness that is greater than the first thickness, and wherein the second thickness is greater than the first thickness by at least 100%.

2. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , further comprising:
a first layer of adhesive that is interposed between the second planarization layer and the polarizer.

3. The electronic device defined in claim 2 , further comprising:
a transparent cover layer that is formed over the polarizer; and
a second layer of adhesive that is interposed between the polarizer and the transparent cover layer.

4. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the first planarization layer is interposed between the first and second passivation layers over the light-emitting area.

5. The electronic device defined in claim 4 , wherein the first and second passivation layers are in direct contact in the non-light-emitting area of the display.

6. The electronic device defined in claim 5 , wherein the display has a peripheral edge and the non-light-emitting area is formed along the peripheral edge.

7. The electronic device defined in claim 5 , wherein the non-light-emitting area is laterally surrounded by the light-emitting area.

8. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the first and second planarization layers are formed from organic material and wherein the first and second passivation layers are formed from inorganic material.

9. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the first planarization layer has a first portion that overlaps the light-emitting area and a second portion that overlaps the non-light-emitting area, wherein the first portion of the first planarization layer has a third thickness, and wherein the second portion of the first planarization layer has a fourth thickness that is less than the third thickness.

10. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the second planarization layer has an upper surface, wherein the upper surface has a maximum slope, and wherein the maximum slope is less than 3 microns of drop per 1 millimeter of lateral extension.

11. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , further comprising:
a transparent cover layer formed over the polarizer, wherein the second planarization layer has an upper surface that is separated from a lower surface of the transparent cover layer by a distance and wherein the distance varies by less than 5 microns across the display.

12. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , further comprising:
a transparent cover layer formed over the polarizer, wherein the polarizer has an upper surface that is separated from a lower surface of the transparent cover layer by a distance and wherein the distance varies by less than 5 microns across the display.

13. An electronic device, comprising:
a substrate with a physical hole;
an array of organic light-emitting diode display pixels arranged on the substrate, wherein the organic light-emitting diode display pixels include organic light-emitting diode layers;
a first passivation layer that is formed over the array of organic light-emitting diode display pixels;
a first planarization layer that is formed over the first passivation layer;
a second passivation layer that is formed over the first passivation layer and that contacts the first passivation layer between the array and an edge of the physical hole;
a cutting structure between the array and the edge of the physical hole, wherein the cutting structure creates a discontinuity in the organic light-emitting diode layers and wherein the first and second passivation layers overlap the cutting structure; and
a metal layer portion that overlaps the cutting structure, wherein the first and second passivation layers are interposed between the metal layer portion and the cutting structure, wherein the metal layer portion has a first width, and wherein the cutting structure has a second width that is less than the first width.

14. The electronic device defined in claim 13 , wherein the metal layer portion is part of a metal layer and wherein the metal layer includes additional metal layer portions that form touch-sensor metal over the array of organic light-emitting diode pixels.

15. The electronic device defined in claim 13 , wherein the cutting structure has an undercut.

16. An electronic device with a display, the electronic device comprising:
a substrate;
an array of display pixels arranged on the substrate in a light-emitting area of the display;
a first passivation layer that is formed over the array of display pixels;
a first planarization layer that is formed over the first passivation layer;
a second passivation layer that is formed over the first planarization layer;
a second planarization layer that is formed over the second passivation layer; and
a polarizer that is formed over the second planarization layer, wherein the second planarization layer has a first portion that overlaps the light-emitting area and a second portion that overlaps a non-light-emitting area of the display, wherein the first portion of the second planarization layer has a first thickness, wherein the second portion of the second planarization layer has a second thickness that is greater than the first thickness, wherein the first thickness is between 5 microns and 15 microns, and wherein the second thickness is between 20 microns and 30 microns.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Mandlik Prashant
• Lalgudi Visweswaran Bhadrinarayana
• Mahajan Ankit
• Chang Chia-Hao
• Glazowski Christopher E
• Wei david l
• Lu Hui
• Ishii Takahide
• Afentakis Themistoklis
• Liu Han
• Hsieh Cheng-Chih
• Sirman Asli
• Chang Shih Chang
• Chen Ko-Wei
• Lin Shang-Chih
• Tsai Tsung-Ting
• Choi Jae Won
• Jamshidi Roudbari Abbas
• Chang Ting-Kuo
• Guillou Jean-Pierre S

Classifications

• H10K50/868

  Arrangements for polarized light emission (H10K50/86 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H10K50/85

  Arrangements for extracting light from the devices · CPC title

• H10K59/40

  OLEDs integrated with touch screens · CPC title

• H10K59/12

  Active-matrix OLED [AMOLED] displays · CPC title

• H10K59/8791

  Arrangements for improving contrast, e.g. preventing reflection of ambient light · CPC title