Light-emitting device having improved light output

1. A light-emitting OLED device, comprising:

one or more light-emitting OLED elements including first and second spaced-apart electrodes with one or more light-emitting organic layers formed there-between, wherein at least one of the electrodes is a transparent electrode;

a first hermetic inorganic encapsulating layer formed over the transparent electrode opposite the light-emitting organic layer;

a light-scattering layer formed over and directly contacting the first hermetic inorganic encapsulating layer opposite the transparent electrode;

an organic encapsulating layer formed over and directly contacting the light-scattering layer opposite the first hermetic encapsulating layer;

a second hermetic inorganic encapsulating layer formed over the organic encapsulating layer opposite the light-scattering layer.

2. The light-emitting OLED device of claim 1 , wherein the organic encapsulating layer has an optical index less than the optical index of the first and/or second hermetic inorganic encapsulating layers.

3. The light-emitting OLED device of claim 1 , wherein the organic encapsulating layer has an optical index less than the optical index of the transparent electrode.

4. The light-emitting OLED device of claim 1 , wherein the first and/or second hermetic inorganic encapsulating layer has an optical index greater than the optical index of the transparent electrode.

5. The light-emitting OLED device of claim 1 , further comprising:

a substrate on which the light-emitting elements are formed; and

a cover affixed to the substrate forming a gap between the cover and the second hermetic inorganic encapsulating layer.

6. The light-emitting OLED device of claim 1 , further comprising a cover layer comprising a curable or non-curable solid or liquid material formed over the second hermetic inorganic encapsulating layer.

7. The light-emitting OLED device of claim 1 , wherein the organic encapsulating layer and the second hermetic inorganic encapsulating layer formed over the scattering layer together have a thickness less than or equal to 10 microns.

8. The light-emitting OLED device of claim 1 , wherein the organic encapsulating layer is a color filter or further comprising a color filter layer formed over the second hermetic inorganic encapsulating layer.

9. The light-emitting OLED device of claim 1 , wherein the first hermetic inorganic encapsulating layer is less than 500 nm thick.

10. The light-emitting OLED device of claim 1 , wherein the first and/or second hermetic inorganic encapsulating layer is formed of multiple layers of inorganic material.

11. The light-emitting OLED device of claim 1 , wherein the first and/or second hermetic inorganic encapsulating layer is formed by an atomic layer deposition process.

12. The light-emitting OLED device of claim 1 , wherein the first hermetic inorganic encapsulating layer is electrically conductive.

13. The light-emitting OLED device of claim 1 , wherein the first and/or second hermetic inorganic encapsulating layers is formed from a metal oxide and/or metal nitride.

14. The light-emitting OLED device of claim 13 , wherein the first and/or second hermetic inorganic encapsulating layers are formed from zinc oxide, aluminum oxide, aluminum zinc oxide, doped zinc oxide, silicon oxide, or silicon nitride.

15. The light-emitting OLED device of claim 1 wherein the organic encapsulating layer comprises parylene.

16. The light-emitting OLED device of claim 1 , wherein the organic encapsulating layer has a thickness of greater than 250 nm.

17. The light-emitting OLED device of claim 1 , wherein the scattering layer includes at least one material having a refractive index equal to or greater than the refractive index of the first hermetic inorganic encapsulation layer.

18. The light-emitting OLED device of claim 1 , wherein the light scattering layer comprises a solvent-coated layer.