Organic light-emitting diode display for suppressing organic light-emitting element from being damaged

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9773994-B2
Application number	US-201514925599-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 28, 2015
Priority date	Oct 31, 2014
Publication date	Sep 26, 2017
Grant date	Sep 26, 2017

Abstract

An organic light-emitting display (OLED) device includes: a lower substrate; an organic light-emitting element disposed on the lower substrate; an anti-oxidation layer covering the organic light-emitting element; an inorganic oxide encapsulation layer covering the anti-oxidation layer; a first organic layer covering the inorganic oxide encapsulation layer; and a first inorganic encapsulation layer covering the first organic layer. The anti-oxidation layer is configured to suppress the organic light-emitting element from being oxidized by oxygen (O 2 ) plasma at least in a pixel area.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An organic light-emitting display (OLED) device, comprising:
a lower substrate including a pixel area and a bezel area adjacent to or surrounding the pixel area;
an organic light-emitting element in the pixel area on the lower substrate;
an anti-oxidation layer configured to cover the organic light-emitting element;
an inorganic oxide encapsulation layer configured to cover the anti-oxidation layer;
a first organic layer configured to cover the inorganic oxide encapsulation layer; and
a first inorganic encapsulation layer configured to cover the first organic layer,
wherein the anti-oxidation layer is configured to suppress the organic light-emitting element from being oxidized by the oxygen (O2) plasma at least in the pixel area,
wherein the anti-oxidation layer is disposed only in the pixel area corresponding to the organic light-emitting element and not disposed in the bezel area.

2. The OLED display of claim 1 , wherein the inorganic oxide encapsulation layer and the first inorganic encapsulation layer are configured to be in contact with each other in a bezel area to seal the first organic layer.

3. The OLED display of claim 2 , wherein the anti-oxidation layer is made of silicon nitride or silicon oxynitride.

4. The OLED display of claim 3 , wherein the organic light-emitting element comprises a cathode, and
wherein the anti-oxidation layer is configured to block an oxygen and moisture permeation path created by cracks of the cathode.

5. The OLED display of claim 4 , further comprising a capping layer on the organic light-emitting element,
wherein the cathode is disposed under the capping layer, and
wherein the anti-oxidation layer is configured to block an oxygen and moisture permeation path created by cracks of the capping layer.

6. The OLED display of claim 4 , wherein the anti-oxidation layer has a thickness of 0.1 μm to 0.9 μm.

7. The OLED display of claim 6 , wherein the inorganic oxide encapsulation layer is made of aluminum oxide (Al2O3), zinc oxide (ZnO) or titanium oxide (TiO).

8. The OLED display of claim 4 , wherein the OLED device is a top-emission, flexible display device.

9. The OLED display of claim 1 , wherein the inorganic oxide encapsulation layer has a thickness of 200Å to 1,500Å.

10. The OLED display of claim 1 , wherein the first organic layer is made of a polymer resin and is formed by screen printing, slit coating, ink-jet printing, electric spray coating or chemical vapor deposition.

11. The OLED display of claim 1 , wherein the inorganic oxide encapsulation layer covers the pixel area and the bezel area, and
wherein the first organic layer is disposed to cover the pixel area and to be extended to cover a part of the bezel area.

12. The OLED display of claim 1 , further comprising:
a second organic layer disposed on the first inorganic encapsulation layer; and
a second inorganic encapsulation layer configured to cover the second organic layer,
wherein the first inorganic encapsulation layer and the second inorganic encapsulation layer are configured to come in contact with each other in the bezel area to seal the first organic layer and the second organic layer.

13. The OLED display of claim 1 , wherein a transparent encapsulation unit comprises the anti-oxidation layer, the inorganic oxide encapsulation layer, the first organic layer and the first inorganic encapsulation layer.

14. The OLED display of claim 13 , wherein a touch panel is disposed on the transparent encapsulation unit.

15. The OLED display of claim 13 , wherein a color filter is disposed on the transparent encapsulation unit.

Assignees

• Lg Display Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kim Ji-Min

Classifications

• H10K2102/3026

  Top emission · CPC title

• H10K50/828

  Transparent cathodes, e.g. comprising thin metal layers · CPC title

• H10K50/818

  Reflective anodes, e.g. ITO combined with thick metallic layers · CPC title

• H10K59/80518 Primary

  Reflective anodes, e.g. ITO combined with thick metallic layers · CPC title

• H10K59/8731

  multilayered coatings having a repetitive structure, e.g. having multiple organic-inorganic bilayers · CPC title