OLED device having spacers
View Patent ↗An organic light-emitting diode (OLED) device, comprising: a substrate; one or more OLEDs formed on the substrate comprising a first electrode formed over the substrate, one or more layers of organic material, one of which is light emitting, formed over the first electrode, and a second electrode formed over the one or more layers of organic material; a cover provided over the one or more OLEDs and spaced apart from the one or more OLEDs to form a gap; and separately pre-formed elastic compressible spacer elements located in the gap between the cover and the one or more OLEDs.
1. An organic light-emitting diode (OLED) device, comprising:
a substrate;
a pluralitv of OLEDs defining light-emitting areas formed on the substrate, each OLED comprising a first electrode formed over the substrate, one or more layers of organic material, one of which is light emitting, formed over the first electrode, and a second electrode formed over the one or more layers of organic material;
a cover provided over the one or more OLEDs and spaced apart from the one or more OLEDs to form a gap; and
a plurality of non-integral, pre-formed elastic compressible, ball-shaped spacer elements located in the gap between the cover and the plurality of OLEDs, within the light-emitting area of each OLED.
2. The OLED device of claim 1 , comprising a plurality of OLEDs defining spatially separated light-emitting areas, and wherein the elastic compressible spacer elements are located between the spatially separated light-emitting areas.
3. The OLED device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more OLEDs further comprise one or more protective, encapsulating, and/or optical layers formed over the second electrode.
4. The OLED device of claim 1 , wherein the spacer elements are in contact with the cover or the one or more OLEDs.
5. The OLED device of claim 1 , wherein the spacer elements are in contact with the cover and the one or more OLEDs.
6. The OLED device of claim 1 , wherein the spacer elements are randomly located.
7. The OLED device of claim 1 , wherein the spacer elements are transparent or light absorbing.
8. The OLED device of claim 6 , wherein the spacer elements are black.
9. The OLED device of claim 1 , wherein the spacer elements are moisture absorbing.
10. The OLED device of claim 1 , wherein the spacer elements are light-scattering particles.
11. The OLED device of claim 1 , wherein the cover is affixed directly to the substrate.
12. The OLED device of claim 1 , further comprising an encapsulating end-cap affixed to both the cover and the substrate.
13. The OLED device of claim 1 , wherein the spacer elements are affixed to the cover or OLED with an adhesive.
14. The OLED device of claim 13 , wherein the adhesive is patterned.
15. The OLED device of claim 1 , wherein the gap is filled with a low-index material having a refractive index lower than that of the OLEDs and of the cover.
16. The OLED device of claim 1 , wherein the spacer elements have a cross section greater than 1 micron.
17. The OLED device of claim 1 , wherein the spacer elements have a refractive index greater than the refractive index of any component of the OLED.
18. The OLED device of claim 1 , wherein the gap is maintained at a pressure of less than one atmosphere.