Organic electroluminescent (EL) device

Details Organic electroluminescent (EL) device Organic electroluminescent (EL) device

2001-05-08

2003-05-13

Husar, Stephen (Department: 2875)

Illumination

Light source or light source support and luminescent material

C313S504000, C313S512000, C257S433000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06561666

ABSTRACT:

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2000-58741, filed on Oct. 6, 2000, under 35 U.S.C. § 119, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic [EL] electroluminescent (or EL) device, and, more particularly, to an organic electroluminescent device having a multilayer printed circuit board.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 1
is a cross sectional view illustrating a configuration of a conventional organic EL device
5
. As shown in
FIG. 1
, the conventional EL device
5
includes a first electrode or anode electrode
11
formed on a substrate
10
, and a second electrode or cathode electrode
17
with an EL light-emitting layer
12
interposed therebetween. Preferably, the anode electrode
11
is made of a transparent material such as indium tin oxide (ITO), and the cathode electrode
17
is made of Al, Mg, Ag, Ca, or Ba, or the like.
The EL light-emitting layer
12
includes a hole transport layer, a luminescent layer, and an electron transport layer. A metal layer
15
is formed to protect the EL light-emitting layer
12
from humidity, oxygen, and an external impact. The metal layer
15
is fixed to the anode electrode
11
by an adhesive
16
. The metal layer
15
has a hygroscopic agent
14
in the form of a powder in space formed by a filter
13
. The filter
13
merely serves to prevent the hygroscopic agent
14
from leaking out the space formed by the filter
13
and the metal layer
15
. Therefore, when the hygroscopic agent
14
is attached to an inner surface of the metal layer
15
by a predetermined method, the filter
13
may be removed.
However, in the conventional EL device
5
having such a configuration, since a printed circuit board having components to drive the EL device
5
should be separately disposed, a problem arise in that the volume or size of the device
5
increases, leading to an undesirable appearance. More particularly, because of the above-mentioned problem with the conventional device
5
, it is difficult to obtain a compact organic EL device.
In efforts to protect the organic EL light-emitting layer
12
from humidity or oxygen, a multi-layered structure in which a metal layer and a resin layer are repeatedly coated is suggested. However, the organic EL device of such a structure has further problems in that processing time is long and production cost is high.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To overcome the problems described above, preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a compact organic EL electroluminescent (or EL) device.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a compact El device.
It is another abject of the present invention is to provide an organic EL device having a short processing time.
It is also another abject of the present invention is to provide an organic EL device having a low production cost.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned objects, the present invention comprises an organic EL device comprising a first electrode, a second electrode, an EL light-emitting layer, and a printed circuit board. In the EL device of the present invention, the first electrode is formed on a transparent substrate. The second electrode is spaced apart from the first electrode and together with the first electrode applies an electric current to the organic EL device. The EL light-emitting layer is interposed between the first and second electrodes. The printed circuit board or a flexible printed circuit board include a multi-layered structure and is attached to the first electrode to cover the EL light-emitting layer.
The organic EL device of the present invention further includes a hygroscopic agent attached to a bottom surface of the printed circuit board or the flexible printed circuit board. The printed circuit board or the flexible printed circuit board includes metal layers and a resin layer. The metal included in the metal layers is a low resistance metal such as Cu, Ag, Au, or Ni or their alloy. The metal layers of the printed circuit board or the flexible printed circuit board are connected with the first and second electrodes via an anithotropic conductive film (ACF). The printed circuit board or the flexible printed circuit board includes a drive intergrated circuit (IC). The drive IC is connected with the first and second electrodes via one of a chip on board (COB), a tape automated bonding (TAB), and a chip on glass (COG). The printed circuit board or the flexible printed circuit board is attached to the first electrode via an adhesive.
The organic EL device according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention has the following advantages. Firstly, since the printed circuit board or the flexible printed circuit board of the multi-layered structure serves to protect the EL light-emitting layer from humidity, oxygen, external impact, and the like, a compact organic EL device can be obtained. Secondly, instead of using the metal layer according to the conventional art, the printed circuit board or the flexible printed circuit board having a multi-layered structure which is in common use is used, and, thus, the manufacturing process is simple, and the processing time is short. Thirdly, a production cost is low.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5703394 (1997-12-01), Wei et al.
patent: 6284342 (2001-09-01), Ebisawa et al.

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