Thin-form light-enhanced substrate for OLED luminaire

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9397314-B2
Application number	US-201414581586-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 23, 2014
Priority date	Dec 23, 2013
Publication date	Jul 19, 2016
Grant date	Jul 19, 2016

Abstract

Devices and techniques are provided in which a transparent substrate is scored to provide a non-planar surface on one side of the substrate. An OLED is then disposed on the other side of the scored substrate and optically coupled to the substrate. The scored surface provides improvements to outcoupling of light generated by the OLED, with little or no additional thickness relative to the OLED alone.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method of fabricating a device, the method comprising:
obtaining a transparent substrate having a first side and a second side;
scoring, with a subtractive scoring process, the first side of the transparent substrate to form a non-planar surface on the first side of the substrate; and
disposing an OLED adjacent to the second side of the transparent substrate;
wherein the OLED is optically coupled to the transparent substrate.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the scoring the first side of the transparent substrate is performed using a mechanical scoring process.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of scoring the first side of the transparent substrate comprises forming a pattern on the first side of the transparent substrate.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
selecting a mechanical scoring edge based upon a desired shape of a groove formed by the step of scoring the first side of the transparent substrate;
wherein the step of scoring the first side of the transparent substrate is performed using a mechanical scoring process.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of scoring the first side of the transparent substrate comprises forming an array of mesas on the first side of the transparent substrate.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transparent substrate is flexible.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transparent substrate has a refractive index in a range from about 1.6 to 1.8.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising cleaning the transparent substrate subsequent to the step of scoring the first side of the transparent substrate, and prior to the step of disposing the OLED on the second side of the transparent substrate.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, prior to the step of disposing the OLED adjacent to the second side of the transparent substrate:
fabricating the OLED on a second substrate which is different from the transparent substrate; and
attaching the second substrate to the transparent substrate.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising forming a thin-film barrier over the OLED.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of scoring the first side of the transparent substrate is performed prior to the step of disposing the OLED on the second side of the transparent substrate.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the scoring is performed as part of a roll-to-roll fabrication process.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising disposing a planarization layer between the transparent substrate and the OLED.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising disposing a barrier layer between the transparent substrate and the OLED.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
disposing a planarization layer between the transparent substrate and the OLED; and
disposing a barrier layer between the transparent substrate and the OLED;
wherein each of the transparent substrate, the planarization layer, and the barrier layer each has a refractive index in a range from about 1.6 to 1.8.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of scoring the first side of the transparent substrate comprises:
scoring the first side of the transparent substrate a first time using a first value of a scoring parameter; and
scoring the first side of the transparent substrate a second time using a second value of the scoring parameter;
wherein the scoring parameter is selected from the group consisting of: depth, spacing, and applied pressure.

17. A light-emitting device fabricated according to the method of claim 1 .

18. The method of claim 5 , further comprising forming secondary features on the top surface of each of the plurality of mesas.

19. The method of claim 5 , wherein the step of forming the array of mesas further comprises forming a ridge on each of the plurality of mesas, which is elevated above a planar top surface of the mesa.

Assignees

• Universal Display Corp

Inventors

• Krall Emory
• Rajan Kamala
• Pang Huiqing
• Mcgraw Gregory
• Quinn William E
• Ma Ruiqing
• Brown Julia J

Classifications

• H10K50/858

  comprising refractive means, e.g. lenses · CPC title

• H10K77/111 Primary

  Flexible substrates · CPC title

• H01L51/5253

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L51/0097

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L51/0014

  Electricity · mapped topic