Electric lamp or space discharge component or device manufacturi – Process – With assembly or disassembly
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-01
2001-09-18
Ramsey, Kenneth J. (Department: 2879)
Electric lamp or space discharge component or device manufacturi
Process
With assembly or disassembly
C313S504000, C313S505000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06290563
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic electroluminescence display device which is used as a display device or a light source and which can be formed by a process including photolithography with easy isolation of organic electroluminescence elements, and also relates to a producing method of the above organic electroluminescence display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
At present, liquid crystal display devices are used as thin flat panel displays which are currently the main stream of the technical field of display devices. However, organic electroluminescence (hereinafter referred to “organic EL”) display devices using organic EL elements are superior to liquid crystal display devices in the following points:
(1) Having a wide viewing angle because the organic EL elements emit light by themselves.
(2) Allowing easy manufacture of a thin display device of about 2-3 mm in thickness.
(3) Capable of providing a natural emission color because of no need for using any polarizing plate.
(4) Capable of clear display because of a wide light and shade dynamic range.
(5) Allowing organic EL elements to operate in a wide temperature range.
(6) Easily enabling dynamic image display because the response speed of the organic EL elements is three orders or more higher than that of liquid crystal elements.
In spite of the above advantages, the organic EL display devices have the following problems in manufacture. For example, organic layers constituting the organic EL elements and electrodes containing a metal having a small work function which is usually used as a cathode to inject electrons into the organic layers are easily deteriorated by water and oxygen. Further, the organic layers are easily dissolved by a solvent and are not resistant to heat.
In a manufacturing method using water, organic solvents, and heat, it is difficult to isolate or divide elements after the formation of organic layers and an electrode containing a metal having a small work function. Therefore, when it is intended to form an organic EL display device in the same class as liquid crystal display devices currently implemented, the matured semiconductor manufacturing technology and liquid crystal display device manufacturing technology cannot be applied as they are to isolate small organic EL elements.
In the above circumstance, a method has been proposed in which walls higher than films constituting organic EL films are formed between display line electrodes to be isolated, and materials for forming the organic EL films are vacuum-evaporated in a direction not perpendicular to the substrate surface (i.e., evaporated obliquely). This method utilizes the fact that the materials for forming the organic EL films are not formed in the portions shielded by the high walls. (Refer to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,276,380 and 5,294,869.)
In the above method, it is very important that the directions in which atoms or molecules travel from the evaporation source to the substrate be aligned. As shown in
FIG. 8
, in an ordinary evaporation method, an evaporation material is vaporized to assume concentric spheres with an evaporation source
101
in which the evaporation material is set as the center, and then attaches to a substrate
100
. The incident angle of the evaporation material with respect to the substrate
100
varies with the position on the substrate
100
, and the thickness of a resulting film formed on the substrate
100
varies in response to the distance from the evaporation source
101
.
Therefore, it is difficult for the above method to isolate the display line electrodes in a stable manner, and to form the films uniformly over the entire substrate surface. Although the above method could manufacture small-size display devices, in order to apply the above method to medium-size or large-size substrates of the 10-inch class or larger, for example, the distance between the substrate
100
and the evaporation source
101
should be set sufficiently long. In this case, the size of the evaporation apparatus becomes impractical.
Even if such a large evaporation apparatus is produced, a large amount of organic EL material does not reach the substrate surface, and thus is consumed in vain without being formed on the substrate, resulting in a major factor of cost increase.
In general, a substrate is rotated or a plurality of evaporation sources are used to evaporate a thin film uniformly on the substrate. These methods are actually employed in semiconductor device manufacturing processes and liquid crystal device manufacturing processes. However, if the above method of forming high walls is applied to these methods, the element isolation cannot be attained any more.
In the conventional method, the organic EL films and the metal electrodes having a small work function are necessarily exposed unless protecting layers are consecutively formed in the same direction. Thus, it is difficult to completely eliminate the influences of water, oxygen, etc. It is impossible to perform photolithography having a process using an organic solvent or water after formation of the organic EL films.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a highly reliable organic EL display device and a producing method thereof by making the element isolation easier irrespective of the manner of evaporating an organic EL material, enabling the use of a large-size substrate, and completely covering organic EL layers and metal electrodes having a small work function by forming films that are stable with respect to water, oxygen, and organic solvents without exposing those to the air, i.e., in a vacuum.
According to the present invention, there is provided an organic electroluminescence display device comprising: a first electrode which is transparent and formed on a substrate; an insulating film selectively formed on the first electrode; a plurality of spacers formed on the insulating film; an overhanging film which is formed on each spacer and has a width wider than that of each spacer; an organic electroluminescence film formed on the first electrode and between adjacent spacers; and a second electrode formed on the organic electroluminescence film.
According to the present invention, there is provided a method for producing an organic electroluminescence display device, comprising the steps of: forming a first electrode which is transparent on a substrate; selectively forming an insulating film on the first electrode; forming a spacer film on the insulating film; selectively forming a photosensitive film on the spacer film; forming a plurality of spacers by overetching the spacer film, so that the photosensitive film overhangs each spacer; forming an organic electroluminescence film on the first electrode and between adjacent spacers; and forming a second electrode on the organic electroluminescence film.
According to the present invention, there is provided an organic electroluminescence display device comprising: a plurality of organic electroluminescence elements; and an element isolating structure portion which is formed between adjacent organic electroluminescence elements and has an overhanging portion, wherein a bending portion of the element isolating structure portion has a bending angle larger than 90°.
According to the present invention, there is provided an organic electroluminescence display device comprising: a plurality of organic electroluminescence elements; and an element isolating structure portion which is formed between adjacent organic electroluminescence elements and has an overhanging portion, wherein a bending portion of the element isolating structure portion is formed by an arc having a radius of curvature of 5 &mgr;m.
According to the present invention, there is provided a method for producing an organic electroluminescence display device having an element isolating structure portion formed between adjacent organic electroluminescence elements, a bending portion of the element isolating structure portion having a bending angle larger than
Codama Mitsufumi
Tanaka Masaru
Armstrong Westerman Hattori McLeland & Naughton LLP
Ramsey Kenneth J.
TDK Corporation
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