OLED lighting device with short tolerant structure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9698140-B2
Application number	US-201414274174-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 9, 2014
Priority date	Jan 12, 2011
Publication date	Jul 4, 2017
Grant date	Jul 4, 2017

Abstract

An OLED panel having a plurality of OLED circuit elements is provided. Each OLED circuit element may include a fuse or other component that can be ablated or otherwise opened to render the component essentially non-conductive. Each OLED circuit element may comprise a pixel that may include a first electrode, a second electrode, and an organic electroluminescent (EL) material disposed between the first and the second electrodes. Each of the OLED circuit elements may not be electrically connected in series with any other of the OLED circuit elements.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
obtaining a substrate having a first electrode;
depositing organic emissive material over the first electrode;
depositing a plurality of physically segmented second electrodes over the organic emissive material;
depositing insulating material over the physically segmented second electrodes, wherein a portion of each of the second electrodes remains exposed through the insulating material;
depositing an unpatterned blanket layer of a conductive material such that the blanket layer of conductive material electrically connects to the portion of each of the second electrodes that remains exposed through the insulating material, to form a plurality of pixels, each pixel being electrically connected to a fuse that limits current to the pixel;
selecting a plurality of fuses in the OLED panel; and
applying energy to each fuse of the selected plurality of fuses to cause the fuse to be opened.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein each fuse of the selected plurality of fuses occupies an area of the panel that is not more than 10% of the area of the panel occupied by the pixel to which the fuse limits current.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of applying energy to the selected plurality of fuses comprises directing a laser at each of the plurality of fuses to ablate each of the selected group of fuses.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the laser is a type selected from the group consisting of: an ultraviolet (UV) laser, and an infrared (IR) laser.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the area of each of the plurality of fuses is not more than about 400 μm 2 .

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the OLED panel comprises at least one material type selected from the group consisting of: a transparent material, a flexible material, and a plastic.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the OLED panel is color-tunable.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the OLED panel comprises a plurality of stripes, each stripe configured to emit red, green, or blue light.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of selected fuses includes a first group of fuses that limits current to pixels in a stripe of a first color in a first region of the panel.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of selected fuses includes a second group of fuses that limits current to pixels in a stripe of a second color in a second region of the panel.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of selected fuses includes a second group of fuses that limits current to pixels in a stripe of a second color in the first region of the panel.

12. A device fabricated according to the method of claim 1 .

13. A method comprising:
obtaining a substrate having a patterned first electrode, the patterned first electrode comprising a plurality of electrode regions;
depositing organic emissive material over the patterned first electrode;
depositing a second electrode over the organic emissive material;
disposing a bus line over the substrate;
wherein each of the plurality of electrode regions is electrically connected to one of the plurality of pixels, and connected to the bus line through one of the plurality of fuses in the OLED panel;
selecting a plurality of fuses in the OLED panel; and

applying energy to each fuse of the selected plurality of fuses to cause the fuse to be opened.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein each fuse of the selected plurality of fuses occupies an area of the panel that is not more than 10% of the area of the panel occupied by the pixel to which the fuse limits current.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the step of applying energy to the selected plurality of fuses comprises directing a laser at each of the plurality of fuses to ablate each of the selected group of fuses.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the laser is a type selected from the group consisting of: an ultraviolet (UV) laser, and an infrared (IR) laser.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the area of each of the plurality of fuses is not more than about 400 μm 2 .

18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the OLED panel comprises at least one material type selected from the group consisting of: a transparent material, a flexible material, and a plastic.

19. The method of claim 13 , wherein the OLED panel is color-tunable.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the OLED panel comprises a plurality of stripes, each stripe configured to emit red, green, or blue light.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the plurality of selected fuses includes a first group of fuses that limits current to pixels in a stripe of a first color in a first region of the panel.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the plurality of selected fuses includes a second group of fuses that limits current to pixels in a stripe of a second color in a second region of the panel.

23. The method of claim 21 , wherein the plurality of selected fuses includes a second group of fuses that limits current to pixels in a stripe of a second color in the first region of the panel.

24. A device fabricated according to the method of claim 13 .

Assignees

• Universal Display Corp

Inventors

• Hack Michael
• Ma Ruiqing
• Krall Emory

Classifications

• H01L27/0288 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L27/3209

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L27/3225

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L2251/5361

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L27/3204

  Electricity · mapped topic