Thin film encapsulation technology can be leveraged for flexible OLED displays

GE has demonstrated an ultra high barrier thin-film encapsulation process on a wide variety of OLED structures through a batchmode, plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition process, which solves a critical need in the display industry for high-performance, hermetic packaging and is meant to allow lightweight, flexible rugged flat panel devices to be manufactured by a low cost, high throughput process such as roll-to-roll manufacturing.

By Ann Steffora Mutschler, Senior Editor -- Electronic News, 5/21/2008

Holding the potential to accelerate commercialization of flexible organic light emitting diodes (OLED) displays, the US Display Consortium (USDC) said today that a cooperative R&D program with GE Global Research has been completed.

According to USDC, GE has demonstrated an ultra high barrier (UHB) thin-film encapsulation process on a wide variety of OLED structures through a batchmode, plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) process, which solves a critical need in the display industry for high-performance, hermetic packaging and enables lightweight, flexible rugged flat panel devices to be manufactured by a low cost, high throughput process such as roll-to-roll manufacturing (R2R), the parties explained.

Several companies in the flexible and printed electronics industry performed the encapsulation studies on OLEDs.

The goals of the program, which is a collaborative effort of private industry and the US Army Research Laboratory, located in Adelphi, MD, included the ability to demonstrate flexibility and achieve luminescence-current-voltage (LIV) characteristics, as well as shelf and operational life performance comparable to glass and metal encapsulated OLEDs, USDC said.

Dr. Ahmet Gün Erlat, materials scientist at GE Global Research noted that encapsulating OLEDs presented a significantly different challenge from previous success in producing barrier-coated plastic substrates as the program provided GE with the opportunity to further develop key technologies and applications that can dramatically impact the flexible electronics infrastructure.

Further, Dr. Mark Hartney, USDC’s CTO said equivalent performance to glass substrate barriers has been demonstrated, as well as the capability of the barrier to withstand extreme flexing conditions, which is expected to enhance the industry’s knowledge base for encapsulating OLEDs on flexible substrates.