Thin-film transistor-driven vertically stacked full-color organic light-emitting diodes for high-resolution active-matrix displays

Abstract

Thin-film transistor (TFT)-driven full-color organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with vertically stacked structures are developed herein using photolithography processes, which allow for high-resolution displays of over 2,000 pixels per inch. Vertical stacking of OLEDs by the photolithography process is technically challenging, as OLEDs are vulnerable to moisture, oxygen, solutions for photolithography processes, and temperatures over 100 degrees C. In this study, we develop a low-temperature processed Al2O3/SiNx bilayered protection layer, which stably protects the OLEDs from photolithography process solutions, as well as from moisture and oxygen. As a result, transparent intermediate electrodes are patterned on top of the OLED elements without degrading the OLED, thereby enabling to fabricate the vertically stacked OLED. The aperture ratio of the full-color-driven OLED pixel is approximately twice as large as conventional sub-pixel structures, due to geometric advantage, despite the TFT integration. To the best of our knowledge, we first demonstrate the TFT-driven vertically stacked full-color OLED.