Organic light emitting diode display having improved strength by preventing the exfoliation of a sealant

• US 8,378,569 B2
• Filed: 05/21/2009
• Issued: 02/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Display Company Limited (Samsung Group)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Display Company Limited (Samsung Group)
• Inventors: Shin, Hye-Jin
• Primary Examiner(s): Green, Tracie Y
• Application Number:
  US12/470,013
• Publication Number:
  US 20100109512A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,370 Days
• Field of Search: 313500-512, 315/169.1
• US Class Current: 313/504
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 50/8426 Peripheral sealing arrangements, e.g. adhesives, sealants
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 59/124 Insulating layers formed between TFT elements and OLED elements
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 59/131 Interconnections, e.g. wiring lines or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 59/87 Passivation; Containers; Encapsulations
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 71/70 Testing, e.g. accelerated lifetime tests
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 71/831 Aging

Abstract

An organic light emitting diode (OLED) display. The OLED display includes a first substrate member, a first conductive wire having a contact region and formed over the first substrate member, an insulating layer including a plurality of wire contact holes exposing a part of the contact region of the first conductive wire and formed over the first conductive wire, a second conductive wire formed over the first conductive wire and connected to the first conductive wire through the plurality of wire contact holes of the insulating layer, a sealant formed over the second conductive wire, a sealing member formed over the sealant, and a fill-up layer disposed above or under the contact region of the first conductive wire.

Claims

1. An organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, the OLED display having a peripheral edge region surrounding and being external to an image producing display region, the peripheral edge region comprising:

a first substrate member;

a buffer layer arranged over the first substrate;

a first conductive wire having a contact region and arranged over the first substrate member;

an insulating layer including a plurality of wire contact holes exposing a part of the contact region of the first conductive wire and arranged over the first conductive wire;

a second conductive wire arranged over the first conductive wire and connected to the first conductive wire through the plurality of wire contact holes of the insulating layer;

a sealant arranged over the second conductive wire;

a sealing member arranged over the sealant; and

a fill-up layer arranged above or under the contact region of the first conductive wire, the buffer layer being underneath the sealant.

2. The OLED display of claim 1, wherein the insulating layer disposed over the contact region having the plurality of wire contact holes has a thickness external to the wire contact holes that is less than an average thickness of the insulating layer.

3. The OLED display of claim 2, wherein the first conductive wire is broken at regular intervals.

4. The OLED display of claim 3, wherein the contact region is an end of the broken first conductive wire.

5. The OLED display of claim 3, wherein the first conductive wire includes at least one metal selected from a group consisting of chromium (Cr), molybdenum (Mo), titanium (Ti), and tantalum (Ta).

6. The OLED display of claim 2, wherein the first conductive wire and the second conductive wire are formed to be flat.

7. The OLED display of claim 1, wherein the fill-up layer is disposed under the first conductive wire.

8. The OLED display of claim 7, wherein the image producing display region comprises a thin film transistor having a semiconductor layer, wherein the fill-up layer in the peripheral edge region is comprised of the same material as that of the semiconductor layer of the thin film transistor and is produced through the same manufacturing process.

9. The OLED display of claim 3, the regular intervals of the first conductive wire terminate at one of a plurality of contact regions, the regular intervals being electrically connected to each other by a second conductive wire.

18. The OLED display of claim 1, the sealant being comprised of frit and including one side that contacts the sealing member and an other side that contacts a substantially flat structure.

19. The OLED display of claim 1, the sealant being comprised of frit and including one side that contacts the sealing member and an other side that contacts a substantially flat structure caused by the fill-up layer canceling out the step difference of the insulating layer.

20. The OLED display of claim 7, the buffer layer being comprised of a material selected from a group consisting of SiN_x, SiO₂, and SiO_xN_y.

10. An organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, comprising:

a first substrate member;

a buffer layer arranged over the first substrate;

a first conductive wire having a contact region and arranged over the first substrate member;

an insulating layer including a plurality of wire contact holes exposing a part of the contact region of the first conductive wire and arranged over the first conductive wire;

a second conductive wire arranged over the first conductive wire and connected to the first conductive wire through the plurality of wire contact holes of the insulating layer;

a sealant arranged over the second conductive wire;

a sealing member arranged over the sealant; and

a fill-up layer arranged on the buffer layer and disposed above or under the contact region of the first conductive wire, wherein the insulating layer disposed over the contact region having the plurality of wire contact holes has a first thickness t1 that is greater than zero but less than a second thickness t2 of the insulating layer external to the contact region, and wherein the fill-up layer is only within the contact region to compensate for a step difference between portions of the insulating layer in the contact region having the first thickness t1 and portions of the insulating layer external to the contact region having the second thickness t2.

11. The OLED display of claim 10, the fill-up layer being arranged only in a region corresponding to where the insulating layer has the first thickness tl and being absent at regions of the display where the insulating layer has the second thickness t2.

12. The OLED display of claim 10, the fill-up layer having a thickness about equal to a difference between the second thickness t2 and the first thickness tl of the insulating layer.

13. The OLED display of claim 10, the first conductive wire and the second conductive wire being used for image quality test and an aging process during a fabrication of the OLED display and are not elements for driving the OLED display.

14. The OLED display of claim 10, the fill-up layer being arranged between the second conductive wire and the sealant.

15. The OLED display of claim 14, the fill-up layer being arranged only at a location corresponding to where the insulating layer has a first thickness t1 and not at locations corresponding to where the insulating layer has a second thickness t2.

16. The OLED of claim 14, the fill-up layer being comprised of a material selected from a group consisting of a polyacrylate resin, an epoxy resins, a phenolic resin, a polyamide resin, a polyimide resin, an unsaturated polyesters resin, a polyphenylenether resin, a polyphenylenesulfide resin, and benzocyclobutene (BCB).

17. The OLED of claim 14, the fill-up layer being comprised of a material selected from a group consisting of indium tin oxide (ITO), indium zinc oxide (IZO), zinc oxide (ZnO), or indium oxide (In₂O₃), lithium (Li), calcium (Ca), lithium/calcium fluoride (LiF/Ca), lithium/aluminum fluoride (LiF/Al), aluminum (Al), silver (Ag), magnesium (Mg) and gold (Au).