US-12628705-B2 - Device including a patterned conductive coating

US12628705B2US 12628705 B2US12628705 B2US 12628705B2US-12628705-B2

Abstract

An opto-electronic device includes: (i) a substrate having a surface; (ii) a first electrode disposed over the surface; (iii) a semiconducting layer disposed over at least a portion of the first electrode; (iv) a second electrode disposed over the semiconducting layer; (v) a nucleation inhibiting coating disposed over at least a portion of the second electrode; (vi) a patterning structure disposed over the surface, the patterning structure providing a shadowed region between the patterning structure and the second electrode; (vii) an auxiliary electrode disposed over the surface; and (viii) a conductive coating disposed in the shadowed region, the conductive coating electrically connecting the auxiliary electrode and the second electrode.

Inventors

Zhibin Wang
Michael Helander

Assignees

OTI LUMIONICS INC.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20240319

Claims (20)

1 . An opto-electronic device having a plurality of layers, comprising: a nucleation inhibiting coating (NIC) disposed in a first part of a lateral aspect of the device, the first part comprising an emissive region comprising: a first electrode, a second electrode, and at least one semiconducting layer between the first electrode and the second electrode, at least a part of the second electrode disposed between the NIC and the at least one semiconducting layer, a pixel definition layer (PDL) covering an edge of the first electrode, wherein the PDL defines an opening through which the first electrode is exposed, and which corresponds to the emissive region of the device, a patterning structure disposed in a second part of the lateral aspect and having a sidewall, at least a part of the sidewall being substantially devoid of the NIC, a conductive coating deposited in contact with the part of the sidewall, and electrically coupled with the second electrode, and an auxiliary electrode, disposed in the second part, wherein the conductive coating is electrically coupled therewith.
2 . The opto-electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the conductive coating is in contact with the second electrode.
3 . The opto-electronic device of claim 1 , wherein at least a part of the NIC is arranged between the conductive coating and the second electrode, and is configured to allow electrical connection to be established therebetween.
4 . The opto-electronic device of claim 1 , wherein an auxiliary electrode is disposed in the second part and formed by the conductive coating.
5 . The opto-electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the patterning structure is disposed on a surface of the PDL.
6 . The opto-electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the auxiliary electrode is disposed on the surface of the PDL.
7 . The opto-electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the patterning structure is the auxiliary electrode.
8 . The opto-electronic device of claim 7 , wherein the auxiliary electrode defines a step edge.
9 . The opto-electronic device of claim 7 , wherein the auxiliary electrode extends substantially vertically.
10 . The opto-electronic device of claim 7 , wherein the auxiliary electrode defines an overhang that provides the shadowed region.
11 . The opto-electronic device of claim 7 , wherein the auxiliary electrode comprises a lower portion and an upper portion.
12 . The opto-electronic device of claim 11 , wherein the lower portion is recessed relative to the upper portion.
13 . The opto-electronic device of claim 11 , wherein the lower portion comprises a different material than the upper portion.
14 . The opto-electronic device of claim 1 , wherein: the patterning structure comprises a laterally extending portion that provides a shadowed region in the second part, the shadowed region is substantially devoid of the NIC, and at least a part of the conductive coating is deposited in the shadowed region.
15 . The opto-electronic device of claim 14 , wherein the shadowed region is adapted to be masked during the deposition of the NIC to inhibit the deposition of the NIC thereon.
16 . The opto-electronic device of claim 14 , wherein: the patterning structure comprises a base portion and a top portion, between which the sidewall extends, and the top portion extends laterally outward from the base portion, thereby providing the shadowed region.
17 . The opto-electronic device of claim 14 , wherein at least a part of the auxiliary electrode is disposed in the shadowed region.
18 . The opto-electronic device of claim 14 , wherein the auxiliary electrode is disposed beneath the patterning structure.
19 . The opto-electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the sidewall is one of: substantially linear, tapered, and curved.
20 . The opto-electronic device of claim 1 , wherein a material of the conductive coating comprises magnesium.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/959,279, filed Oct. 3, 2022, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/053,026 filed Nov. 4, 2020 which is a U.S. National Stage Application under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Application No. PCT/IB2019/053706, filed May 7, 2019, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/668,134, filed May 7, 2018, and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/729,889, filed Sep. 11, 2018, the contents of each of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. TECHNICAL FIELD The following generally relates to a method for providing an auxiliary electrode for an opto-electronic device. Specifically, the method relates to selective deposition of the electrically conductive material on a surface for forming an electrically conductive structure of a device. BACKGROUND Organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) typically include several layers of organic materials interposed between conductive thin film electrodes, with at least one of the organic layers being an electroluminescent layer. When a voltage is applied to electrodes, holes and electrons are injected from an anode and a cathode, respectively. The holes and electrons injected by the electrodes migrate through the organic layers to reach the electroluminescent layer. When a hole and an electron are in close proximity, they are attracted to each other due to a Coulomb force. The hole and electron may then combine to form a bound state referred to as an exciton. An exciton may decay through a radiative recombination process, in which a photon is released. Alternatively, an exciton may decay through a non-radiative recombination process, in which no photon is released. It is noted that, as used herein, internal quantum efficiency (IQE) will be understood to be a proportion of all electron-hole pairs generated in a device which decay through a radiative recombination process. A radiative recombination process can occur as a fluorescence or phosphorescence process, depending on a spin state of an electron-hole pair (namely, an exciton). Specifically, the exciton formed by the electron-hole pair may be characterized as having a singlet or triplet spin state. Generally, radiative decay of a singlet exciton results in fluorescence, whereas radiative decay of a triplet exciton results in phosphorescence. More recently, other light emission mechanisms for OLEDs have been proposed and investigated, including thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF). Briefly, TADF emission occurs through a conversion of triplet excitons into singlet excitons via a reverse inter system crossing process with the aid of thermal energy, followed by radiative decay of the singlet excitons. An external quantum efficiency (EQE) of an OLED device may refer to a ratio of charge carriers provided to the OLED device relative to a number of photons emitted by the device. For example, an EQE of 100% indicates that one photon is emitted for each electron that is injected into the device. As will be appreciated, an EQE of a device is generally substantially lower than an IQE of the device. The difference between the EQE and the IQE can generally be attributed to a number of factors such as absorption and reflection of light caused by various components of the device. An OLED device can typically be classified as being either a “bottom-emission” or “top-emission” device, depending on a relative direction in which light is emitted from the device. In a bottom-emission device, light generated as a result of a radiative recombination process is emitted in a direction towards a base substrate of the device, whereas, in a top-emission device, light is emitted in a direction away from the base substrate. Accordingly, an electrode that is proximal to the base substrate is generally made to be light transmissive (e.g., substantially transparent or semi-transparent) in a bottom-emission device, whereas, in a top-emission device, an electrode that is distal to the base substrate is generally made to be light transmissive in order to reduce attenuation of light. Depending on the specific device structure, either an anode or a cathode may act as a transmissive electrode in top-emission and bottom-emission devices. An OLED device also may be a double-sided emission device, which is configured to emit light in both directions relative to a base substrate. For example, a double-sided emission device may include a transmissive anode and a transmissive cathode, such that light from each pixel is emitted in both directions. In another example, a double-sided emission display device may include a first set of pixels configured to emit light in one direction, and a second set of pixels configured to emit light in the other direction, such that a single electrode from each pixel is transmissive. In addition to the above device configurations, a tran