ORGANIC LIGHT-EMITTING DISPLAY DEVICE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME

• US 20130134423A1
• Filed: 05/10/2012
• Published: 05/30/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Display Company Limited (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Display Company Limited (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Choi, Jae-Beom, Jung, Kwan-Wook, Lee, June-Woo, Kim, Moo-Jin, Jin, Guang-Hai
• Granted Patent: US 8,895,999 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 257/59
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/1222 with a particular composition, shape or crystalline structure of the active layer
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/124 with a particular composition, shape or layout of the wiring layers specially adapted to the circuit arrangement, e.g. scanning lines in LCD pixel circuits wiring structures per se H01L23/52
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/1288 employing particular masking sequences or specially adapted masks, e.g. half-tone mask
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/08 with a plurality of light emitting regions, e.g. laterally discontinuous light emitting layer or photoluminescent region integrated within the semiconductor body H01L27/15 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/38 with a particular shape
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 59/121 characterised by the geometry or disposition of pixel elements

Abstract

A method of manufacturing an organic light-emitting display device is disclosed. The method includes: uniformly forming an active layer on an entire surface of a substrate on which an organic light-emitting diode, a thin film transistor (TFT), and a capacitor are to be formed; performing a first mask process on the active layer to form a pixel electrode of the organic light-emitting diode, a gate electrode of the TFT, and an upper electrode of the capacitor; performing a second mask process to form an insulating layer having openings that expose the pixel electrode, the upper electrode, and the active layer in a region of the TFT; performing a third mask process to form a source-drain electrode that contacts an exposed portion of the active layer; and performing a fourth mask process to form a pixel-defining layer (PDL) that exposes the pixel electrode and covers the TFT and the capacitor.

Claims

1. An organic light-emitting display device comprising:

a substrate;

an active layer uniformly covering an entire surface of the substrate;

a thin film transistor (TFT) on the substrate and comprising a portion of the active layer; and

an organic light-emitting diode and a capacitor on the substrate and that are electrically connected to the TFT.

2. The organic light-emitting display device of claim 1, wherein the TFT comprises:

a gate electrode on the active layer with a gate insulating layer therebetween;

a source-drain electrode connected to the active layer; and

a gate guard surrounding the gate electrode to define a region of the TFT.

3. The organic light-emitting display device of claim 2, wherein the gate electrode and the gate guard are formed in a same layer by using a same material.

4. The organic light-emitting display device of claim 2, wherein the TFT comprises a plurality of TFTs of which corresponding said regions are separately defined by respective said gate guards.

5. The organic light-emitting display device of claim 2, wherein the gate electrode comprises:

a gate center portion; and

a gate side portion extending from the gate center portion and forming a closed loop shape with the gate center portion.

6. The organic light-emitting display device of claim 5, wherein the source-drain electrode passes through a central space of the closed loop shape to connect to the active layer via the central space.

7. The organic light-emitting display device of claim 1, wherein the capacitor comprises:

a lower electrode comprising a portion of the active layer; and

an upper electrode corresponding to the lower electrode.

8. The organic light-emitting display device of claim 7, wherein the upper electrode comprises:

a first upper electrode corresponding to the lower electrode; and

a second upper electrode surrounding a side edge of the first upper electrode and having a closed loop shape.

9. The organic light-emitting display device of claim 1, wherein the organic light-emitting diode comprises:

a pixel electrode electrically connected to the TFT;

an opposite electrode facing the pixel electrode; and

an emission layer interposed between the pixel electrode and the opposite electrode.

10. A method of manufacturing an organic light-emitting display device, the method comprising:

uniformly forming an active layer on an entire surface of a substrate on which an organic light-emitting diode, a thin film transistor (TFT), and a capacitor are to be formed;

performing a first mask process in which patterns for a pixel electrode of the organic light-emitting diode, a gate electrode of the TFT, and an upper electrode of the capacitor are formed on the active layer;

performing a second mask process of forming an insulating layer having openings that expose the pixel electrode, the upper electrode, and the active layer in a region of the TFT;

performing a third mask process of forming a source-drain electrode that contacts an exposed portion of the active layer; and

performing a fourth mask process of forming a pixel-defining layer (PDL) that exposes the pixel electrode and covers the TFT and the capacitor.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first mask process further comprises forming a gate guard in a same layer as the gate electrode by using a same material as the gate electrode to define the region of the TFT, wherein the gate guard surrounds the gate electrode.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the gate electrode comprises:

a gate center portion; and

a gate side portion extending from the gate center portion and forming a closed loop shape with the gate center portion.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising doping the active layer with impurities by using the gate electrode and the gate guard as a mask.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the upper electrode of the capacitor comprises:

a first upper electrode; and

a second upper electrode having a closed loop shape surrounding a side edge of the first upper electrode.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising doping the active layer with impurities by using the second upper electrode as a mask to form a lower electrode facing the first upper electrode.