Sealing technique for decreasing the time it takes to hermetically seal a device and the resulting hermetically sealed device

• US 20070252526A1
• Filed: 06/21/2007
• Published: 11/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Corning Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Corning Incorporated
• Inventors: Aitken, Bruce, Quesada, Mark, An, Chong
• Granted Patent: US 7,722,929 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 313/512
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 17/3615 Coatings of the type glass/metal/other inorganic layers, at least one layer being non-metallic
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 17/3649 made of metals other than silver
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 17/3671 specially adapted for use as electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 17/3678 specially adapted for use in solar cells
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 3/247 containing fluorine and phosphorus
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 8/24 Fusion seal compositions being frit compositions having non-frit additions, i.e. for use as seals between dissimilar materials, e.g. glass and metal; Glass solders
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/06 characterised by the coating material C23C14/0021 , C23C14/04 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 50/844 Encapsulations
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 59/873 Encapsulations
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 71/40 Thermal treatment, e.g. annealing in the presence of a solvent vapour
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/549 Organic PV cells
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 70/50 Manufacturing or production processes characterised by the final manufactured product

Abstract

A sealing method for decreasing the time it takes to hermetically seal a device and the resulting hermetically sealed device (e.g., a hermetically sealed OLED device) are described herein. The sealing method includes the steps of: (1) cooling an un-encapsulated device; (2) depositing a sealing material over at least a portion of the cooled device to form an encapsulated device; and (3) heat treating the encapsulated device to form a hermetically sealed device. In one embodiment, the sealing material is a low liquidus temperature inorganic (LLT) material such as, for example, tin-fluorophosphate glass, tungsten-doped tin fluorophosphate glass, chalcogenide glass, tellurite glass, borate glass and phosphate glass. In another embodiment, the sealing material is a Sn²⁺-containing inorganic oxide material such as, for example, SnO, SnO+P₂O₅ and SnO+BPO₄.

Claims

1. A method for decreasing the time it takes to hermetically seal a device, said method comprising the steps of:

cooling an un-encapsulated device;

depositing a sealing material over at least a portion of said cooled device to form an encapsulated device; and

heat treating said encapsulated device to form a hermetically sealed device, wherein the sealing material is either a low liquidus temperature inorganic material or a Sn²⁺-containing inorganic oxide material.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said low liquidus temperature inorganic material is one of the following, or any combination thereof:

tin-fluorophosphate material;

tungsten-doped tin-fluorophosphate material;

chalcogenide material;

tellurite material;

borate material; and

phosphate material.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said low liquidus temperature inorganic material is a tin-fluorophosphate material that has the following composition:

Sn (20-85 wt %)

P (2-20 wt %)

O (10-36 wt %)

F (10-36 wt %)

Nb (0-5 wt %); and

at least 75% total of Sn+P+O+F.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said low liquidus temperature inorganic material has a liquidus temperature ≦

1000°

C.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said low liquidus temperature inorganic material has a liquidus temperature ≦

600°

C.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said low liquidus temperature inorganic material has a liquidus temperature ≦

400°

C.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said Sn²⁺-containing inorganic oxide material is one of the following, or any combination thereof:

SnO;

SnO and a borate material;

SnO and a phosphate material; and

SnO and a borophosphate material.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said cooling step further includes cooling said un-encapsulated device to a temperature <

15°

C.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said cooling step further includes cooling said un-encapsulated device to a temperature <

10°

C.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said cooling step further includes cooling said un-encapsulated device to a temperature <

10°

C.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said deposition step further includes depositing the sealing material at a deposition rate of about 5 Å

/second over said at least a portion of said cooled device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said deposition step further includes depositing the sealing material at a deposition rate of about 25 Å

/second over said at least a portion of said cooled device.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said deposition step further includes depositing the. sealing material at a deposition rate of about 75 Å

/second over said at least a portion of said cooled device.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said heat treating step is performed in a vacuum or in an inert environment and at a temperature which does not damage components in said device.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said heat treating step is performed at a temperature <

400°

C.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein said heat treating step is performed at a temperature <

200°

C.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein said heat treating step at a temperature <

100°

C.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein said heat treating step at a temperature <

40°

C.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein said hermetically sealed device has an oxygen permeance of less than 0.01 cc/m²/atm/day and a water permeance of less than 0.01g/m²/day.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein said sealing material is doped with a dopant to achieve a desired specific physical-chemical property including one of the following, or any combination thereof:

an opacity-transparency;

a refractive index;

a coefficient of thermal expansion;

a sensitization;

a fermi level/resistivity;

a solubility/interface wettability; and

a hardness.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein said device is a selected one of:

an organic-electronic device including;

an organic emitting light diode (OLED),

a polymer light emitting diode (PLED),

a photovoltaic,

a metamaterial,

a thin film transistor; and

a waveguide;

an inorganic-electronic device including;

a light emitting diode (LED),

a photovoltaic,

a metamaterial,

a thin film transistor; and

a waveguide;

an optoelectronic device including;

an optical switch;

a waveguide;

a flexible substrate;

a food container; and

a medical container.

22. A device comprising:

a substrate plate;

at least one component; and

a deposited sealing material, wherein said at least one component is hermetically sealed between said deposited sealing material and said substrate plate, wherein said substrate was cooled to a temperature of about <

15°

C. prior to the depositing of said sealing material over said at least one component and said substrate, and wherein said deposited material is either a low liquidus temperature inorganic material or a Sn²⁺-containing inorganic oxide material.

23. The device of claim 22, wherein said low liquidus temperature inorganic material is one of the following, or any combination thereof:

tin-fluorophosphate material;

tungsten-doped tin-fluorophosphate material;

chalcogenide material;

tellurite material;

borate material; and

phosphate material.

24. The device of claim 22, wherein said Sn²⁺-containing inorganic oxide material is one of the following, or any combination thereof:

SnO;

SnO and a borate material;

SnO and a phosphate material; and

SnO and a borophosphate material.

25. A method for manufacturing a hermetically sealed device, said method comprising the steps of:

cooling a device;

depositing a sealing material over at least a portion of said device; and

heat treating said device to form the hermetically sealed device, wherein the sealing material is either a low liquidus temperature inorganic material or a Sn²⁺-containing inorganic oxide material.