KR101879719B1 - OLED Panel, OLED Display Device and Method of Fabricating OLED Panel - Google Patents

Abstract

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a display panel in which it is possible to improve the sealing performance and to easily hold the material of the bag body sealing the side portion at a predetermined portion of the side portion.
The display panel includes a substrate film, an OLED element provided on the substrate film, a siege bag surrounding the OLED element, a sealing film bonded to the siege bag to cover the siege bag, a side portion covering the side of the siege bag, And a bag body. The substrate film and the sealing film have a larger area than the surrounding sealing body and protrude from the surrounding sealing body, and the side sealing body is filled in the space defined by the side of the surrounding sealing body, the substrate film and the sealing film.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to an OLED panel, an OLED display, and a manufacturing method of the OLED panel.

The present invention relates to an OLED panel, an OLED display, and a method of manufacturing an OLED panel.

An OLED panel is used as a light emitting device. In recent years, thinner OLED panels are being developed, and flexible thin OLED panels capable of bending are being developed. In order to improve the performance of the side encapsulation, a thin-type OLED panel is provided with a side encapsulation layer as described in Patent Document 1. [

Patent Document 1: JP-A-2016-091793

As to the OLED panel, it is required to further improve the sealing performance in order to improve the durability and prolong the service life. Further, in order to arrange the plug body on the side of the thin OLED panel, it is common to cure the plug body material, but sometimes it is difficult to surely hold the material on a predetermined portion of the side.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an OLED panel, a method of manufacturing an OLED panel, and an OLED panel using the same, which is capable of enhancing the sealing performance and easily holding the sealing material for sealing the side portion at a predetermined portion of the side portion.

An OLED panel according to the present invention includes a substrate film, an OLED element provided on the substrate film, a siege bag surrounding the OLED element, a sealing film bonded to the siege plug to cover the siege plug, And the side seal member covering the side portion of the surrounding sachet, wherein the substrate film and the sealing film have a larger area than the surrounding sachet, and protrude from the surrounding sachet, The side of the siege bag, the space defined by the substrate film and the sealing film.

It is preferable that the substrate film and the encapsulating film have the same shape, the same size, and their edge portions coincide with each other.

Wherein the substrate film is provided with an inorganic film, the OLED element is provided on the inorganic film, and the inorganic film has a larger area than the surrounding bag and protrudes from the surrounding bag, It is preferable that the lag is filled in the space defined by the side of the surrounding bag, the inorganic film and the sealing film, and the side of the surrounding sack, the inorganic film and the sealing film.

It is preferable that the substrate film, the inorganic film, and the sealing film have the same shape, the same size, and their edge portions coincide with each other.

It is preferable that the side seal member is formed of a material containing a base material which is a polymer material and an additive which improves adhesion between the base material and other parts.

It is preferable that the sealing film is formed of glass or stainless steel.

An OLED display according to the present invention includes the OLED panel.

A manufacturing method of an OLED panel according to the present invention is a manufacturing method for manufacturing the OLED panel, comprising: mounting an OLED element on the substrate film; surrounding the OLED element with the encapsulation body; And filling the sealing material in the space defined by the side of the siege bag, the substrate film, and the sealing film, filling the side sack material in the space defined by the side sack, And curing the material of the side sealing member to form the side sealing member.

In the present invention, the side encapsulant is filled in the space defined by the side of the envelope, the substrate film and the encapsulating film. Therefore, in the manufacture of an OLED panel, it is easy to hold the bag material sealing the side portion at a predetermined portion of the side portion. In another aspect, in the present invention, the side encapsulation member is in contact with the side portion of the envelope, is in contact with a portion of the encapsulation film protruding from the encapsulation bag, and is also in contact with the portion opposing the encapsulation film. From this point of view, the sealing performance of the OLED panel can be further increased.

1 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing an example of an OLED panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a flowchart showing an outline of a method of manufacturing an OLED panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a cross-sectional view showing one step of a method of manufacturing an OLED panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing an OLED panel of a comparative example.
5 is a cross-sectional view showing one process of the manufacturing method of the OLED panel of FIG.
6 is a graph showing experimental results for confirming the effect of an additive for improving the adhesion with other parts included in the material of the side seal.
7 is a table showing the results of the same experiment.
8 is a graph showing the relationship between the voltage increasing rate and the adhesion.

The objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In the different drawings, the same reference numerals are used to denote the same or functionally similar elements. It is to be understood that the drawings are schematically shown, and that the scale of the drawings is not accurate.

The OLED panel according to the embodiment is a display panel used in a display device, but the OLED panel 10 may be an illumination panel used in a lighting device. The display panel is a flexible display panel, but it may not. The lighting panel is also a flexible lighting panel, but it is not.

As shown in FIG. 1, an OLED panel 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a substrate film (flexible substrate 12) and an inorganic film 14 as a barrier layer formed thereon. The substrate film 12 is formed from a polymer material, for example, polyimide. The inorganic film 14 is formed of an inorganic material, for example, silicon nitride.

An OLED layer 16 is formed on the inorganic film 14. Although not shown in detail, the OLED layer 16 has a layer of an anode, a cathode, a light emitting layer, and the like, and has a plurality of OLED elements. Therefore, a plurality of OLED elements are provided on the inorganic film 14, and further on the substrate film 12. [ Although not shown, other layers such as a TFT (thin film transistor) layer for emitting an OLED element and a color filter layer for imparting color to light emitted from the OLED element may be provided in the OLED panel 10 as well.

The encapsulation member 18 formed of a material mainly composed of a polymer material is bonded to the inorganic film 14 so that the encapsulation encapsulation 18 surrounds the OLED layer 16, Protect from air. Further, the encapsulation film 20 is bonded on the encapsulation bag 18 so as to cover the entire encapsulation bag 18. The sealing film 20 is made of, for example, glass or metal. The encapsulation bag 18 and the encapsulation film 20 can be easily provided on the inorganic film 14 by forming the encapsulation bag 18 from a pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA), for example. In order to improve the sealing performance, it is preferable to mix residual gas and / or moisture-absorbing additive in the material of the surrounding bag 18.

The OLED panel 10 is a bottom emission type in which light emitted from the OLED layer 16 is emitted toward the substrate film 12 (that is, downward in the drawing). A front film (reinforcing film) may be bonded to the substrate film 12 in order to improve the strength of the OLED panel 10.

The encapsulation plug 18 is provided on a part of the entire surface of the substrate film 12 and the inorganic film 14 (the entire surface when viewed from the top to the bottom of the figure). The encapsulation film 20 has a larger area (an area when viewed from the top to the bottom of the figure) than the envelope encapsulant 18. The substrate film 12, the inorganic film 14 and the sealing film 20 have a larger area than the surrounding bag 18 and protrude from the surrounding bag 18. [

The OLED panel 10 is provided with a side sealing member 22 covering the side of the surrounding sealing member 18, more specifically, the entire circumference of the surrounding sealing member 18. The side plugs 22 are filled in the space defined by the sides of the envelope sachet 18, the inorganic film 14 and the sealing film 20, and the sides of the sachet bag 18, the inorganic film 14, And is brought into contact with the sealing film 20.

The side plugs 22 are made of a base material which is a polymer material (for example, acrylic, polyvinyl alcohol, polyimide, polyamide or the like), inorganic particles (such as silicon dioxide or titanium oxide) Or an additive that absorbs water. The sealing performance of the side plugs 22 is improved by the inorganic particles and the residual gas and / or additives that absorb moisture.

Preferably, the material of the side plug body 22 further contains an additive that improves adhesion with other goods. The side seal member 22 has high adhesion to the side of the surrounding sachet 18, the inorganic film 14, and the sealing film 20 because it contains an additive that improves adhesion with other components. Therefore, the sealing performance of the side sachet 22 is further improved. Particularly, the addition of the inorganic particles and the residual gas and / or the moisture absorbing additive lowers the flexibility of the side plugs 22, but the side plugs 22 are prevented from being trapped by the surrounding plugs 18 The inorganic film 14 and the sealing film 20 can be ensured.

Examples of the additive for improving the adhesion with other parts include a surface modifier, a surfactant, a dispersant, a thickener, a defoaming agent, a leveling agent, and an adhesion-imparting agent. Preferable additives include surface modifiers and surfactants. The surface modifier may be reactive or non-reactive, and examples thereof include fluorine-based and silicon-based materials. Examples of the surfactant include ionic and nonionic materials. Specific examples of the additive include silane coupling agents.

The substrate film 12, the inorganic film 14, and the sealing film 20 have the same shape, the same size, and their edge portions coincide with each other. Therefore, the manufacture of the OLED panel 10 is easy. The end seal film 20 has a larger area than that of the surrounding encapsulant 18 and has the same shape and the same size as the inorganic film 14 and the encapsulation film 20 It is acceptable.

2 is a flowchart showing an outline of a manufacturing method of the OLED panel 10. As shown in Fig. In order to manufacture the OLED panel 10, first, an OLED layer 16 including a plurality of OLED elements is formed on a substrate film 12 by a known technique (step S1). Step S1 also includes forming the inorganic film 14 on the substrate film 12. Step S1 may include providing another layer such as the TFT layer and the color filter layer.

Next, the OLED layer 16 is surrounded by the surrounding sachet 18 in a known manner (step S2). Furthermore, the sealing film 20 is bonded to the surrounding bag body 18 so as to cover the surrounding bag body 18 by a known method (step S3).

Next, the material of the side sack body 22 is filled in the space defined by the side of the siege bag 18, the inorganic film 14 and the sealing film 20 (step S4). In step S4, the material 22A of the filled side plug body 22 is shown in Fig. In step S4, since the material of the side sealing material 22 is filled in the space defined by the side of the surrounding sealing material 18, the inorganic film 14 and the sealing film 20, the side sealing material It is easy to hold the material 22A of the side wall 22 at a predetermined portion of the side portion. At this time, the structure may be placed on the bottom or other surface with the substrate film 12 as the lower side and the sealing film 20 as the upper side as shown in Fig. 3. Alternatively, the substrate film 12 may be arranged on the upper side , The sealing film 20 may be disposed on the bottom side and the structure may be disposed on the bottom or other surface.

Next, the side sealing material 22 is formed by curing the material 22A of the side sealing material 22 (step S5). For example, when the material 22A is an ultraviolet ray-curable resin, the material 22A is irradiated with ultraviolet rays as shown by arrows in Fig.

4 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing an OLED panel 50 of a comparative example. In Fig. 4, the same components as those in Fig. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and a description thereof will be omitted. The substrate film 12, the inorganic film 14, the OLED layer 16, and the sealing film 20 are flatly aligned on one side (for example, the right side in the drawing) of the OLED panel 50. The side sack 52 is bonded to the side end portions of the substrate film 12, the inorganic film 14, the surrounding sachet 18 and the sealing film 20 in this portion, There is nothing touching the support body 52.

The substrate film 12 and the inorganic film 14 protrude from the surrounding encapsulant 18 at the other side (for example, the left side in the drawing) of the OLED panel 50, And is flat with the support 18. The side plug 52 is bonded to the surface of the inorganic film 14 at this portion and bonded to the side end portions of the envelope bag 18 and the sealing film 20. [ There is nothing in contact with the side sack body 52 in the upward direction of the side sack body 52.

The method of manufacturing the OLED panel 50 uses steps S1 to S3 of the method shown in the flow chart of FIG. 5, the upper side and the lower side are reversed so that the substrate film 12 is disposed on the upper side and the sealing film 20 is disposed on the lower side, the structure is disposed on the floor or other surface 54, The material 52A of the side sack body 52 is applied with a special application device.

Next, the material 52A of the side plug 52 is hardened to form the side plug 52. [ For example, when the material 52A is an ultraviolet ray-curable resin, the material 52A is irradiated with ultraviolet rays as shown by arrows in Fig.

In manufacturing the OLED panel 50, since the material 52A is not supported on the upper side or the lower side of the material 52A of the side plug body 52, a special application device is required for applying the material 52A, It is also difficult to keep the material 52A at a predetermined portion of the side portion. The material 52A may adhere to the sticky surface 54 until the material 52A of the side plug 52 is fully cured so that the OLED panel 50 can be transported from the surface 54 none. In particular, in the environment where the material 52A is hard to cure due to the presence of oxygen, it can be used as a material 52A that is susceptible to curing such as an epoxy resin, but other materials can not be used as the material 52A.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, since the material of the side plug body 22 is filled in the space defined by the side of the sachet bag 18, the inorganic film 14 and the sealing film 20, It is easy to hold the material 22A of the side seal member 22 on a predetermined portion of the side portion. Also, the OLED panel 10 can be transported before the material 22A of the side bag body 22 is completely cured. Since the presence of oxygen allows the OLED panel 10 to be transported even in an environment where the material 22A is hard to cure, the choice of material 22A is wide. By selecting an inexpensive material, the manufacturing cost of the OLED panel 10 can be reduced.

In another aspect, in the embodiment of the present invention, the side seal member 22 is in contact with the side portion of the surrounding bag 18 and is in contact with the portion of the sealing film 20 protruding from the surrounding bag 18 , And is also in contact with the portion of the inorganic film 14 opposed to the portion. From this point of view, the sealing performance of the OLED panel 10 can be further increased. The side plugs 22 are formed on the sides of the envelope bag 18, the inorganic film 14, and the sealing film 20, since the material of the side plugs 22 contains additives that improve the adhesion with other components. Is high.

6 is a graph showing experimental results for confirming the effect of an additive for enhancing adhesion with other components included in the material of the side sealing member 22 of the OLED panel 10, It is a table shown. The graph of Fig. 6 shows the numerical values shown in Fig.

And the symbol G indicates that the sealing film 20 is made of glass. S indicates that the sealing film 20 is made of stainless steel. S4 indicates that the sealing film 20 is made of another kind of stainless steel. Ref indicates that the sealing film 20 is not present.

A indicates that the material of the side plug body 22 contains a surfactant (specifically, a silane coupling agent). Without A, it means that the material of the side plug body 22 does not contain a surfactant. That is, for example, GA in Figs. 6 and 7 indicates that the sealing film 20 is made of glass, and the material of the side plug body 22 contains a surfactant. S and S in Figs. 6 and 7 show that the sealing film 20 is made of stainless steel, and the material of the side plug body 22 does not contain a surfactant.

In this experiment, a current of 0.9 mA was passed through the OLED device under an environment of a temperature of 60 ° C and a humidity of 90%, and the voltage relationship between the elapsed time and the anode of the OLED device was examined. The increase in the voltage under a constant current indicates that the moisture penetrates into the light emitting layer of the OLED element and the resistance thereof increases. That is, a high rate of increase of the voltage under a constant current indicates that the sealing performance is weak.

In this experiment, the shear strength between the side sealing member 22 and the sealing film 20 was measured as an index for judging the adhesion between the side sealing member 22 of the OLED panel 10 and the sealing film 20 did.

As apparent from the results of Figs. 6 and 7, the sealing performance of the GA is the highest, S4A is the next, SA is the next, S is the next, and the performance of the Ref is naturally lowest. As apparent from the comparison of SA and S, the effect of improving the adhesion by the additive is obvious.

It is apparent from the graph shown in Fig. 8 that the sealing performance is related to the voltage increasing rate and the adhesion. The graph of Fig. 8 shows the relationship between the voltage increase rate after 448 hours and the shear strength between the side sachet 22 and the sealing film 20 in the tests of Figs. 6 and 7. As is apparent from Fig. 8, the voltage increasing rate and the adhesion (shear strength) are generally in inverse proportion, and they are closely related to moisture penetration.

While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the scope of the appended claims.

10: OLED panel 12: substrate film
14: inorganic film 16: OLED layer
18: encapsulation bag 20: encapsulation film
22: side bag body 22A: material of the side bag body 22

Claims (10)

A substrate film,
An OLED element provided on the substrate film,
A surrounding bag surrounding the OLED element,
An encapsulating film bonded to the encapsulation bag to cover the encapsulation bag,
And a side sealing member covering a side portion of the surrounding bag,
Wherein the substrate film and the sealing film have a larger area than the surrounding sachet and project from the surrounding sachet,
The side plug is filled in a space defined by the side of the envelope, the substrate film and the sealing film,
The side plug is formed of a material containing a base material which is a polymer material and an additive for improving the adhesion between the base material and other parts, inorganic particles, and additives for absorbing residual gas and / or moisture,
Wherein the sealing film is formed of a metal, and light emitted from the OLED element is emitted toward the substrate film side.
The method of claim 1, wherein
Wherein the substrate film and the sealing film have the same shape, the same size, and their edge portions are matched.
The method of claim 1, wherein
An inorganic film is formed on the substrate film,
Wherein the OLED element is provided on the inorganic film,
Wherein the inorganic film has a larger area than the surrounding sachet and protrudes from the surrounding sachet,
Wherein the side plugs are filled in a space defined by the sides of the envelope, the inorganic film, and the encapsulation film, and contact with the side of the encapsulation, the inorganic film, and the encapsulation film.
The method of claim 3, wherein
Wherein the substrate film, the inorganic film, and the sealing film have the same shape, the same size, and their edge portions coincide with each other.
delete The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein
Wherein the sealing film is formed of stainless steel.
An OLED display device comprising the display panel according to any one of claims 1 to 4.
A manufacturing method for manufacturing the display panel according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
Installing an OLED element on the substrate film,
Surrounding the OLED element with the encapsulation body,
Bonding the encapsulation film to the encapsulation bag so as to cover the encapsulation bag,
Filling the side encapsulation material in a space defined by the side of the encapsulation bag, the substrate film, and the encapsulation film;
And curing the material of the side sealant to form the side sealant. The method of claim 1, wherein
Wherein the inorganic particles are silicon dioxide or titanium oxide.
The method of claim 1, wherein
Wherein the substrate film is flexible and the front film is bonded to the substrate film.

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