Organic light emitting display device comprising a metal diffusion medium layer and method of manufacturing the same

• US 8,698,147 B2
• Filed: 09/23/2011
• Issued: 04/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2010
• 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, Jong-Hyun, Kim, Na-Young, Lee, Dae-Woo
• Primary Examiner(s): Ho, Anthony
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHEN, DAVID Z
• Application Number:
  US13/244,048
• Publication Number:
  US 20120104397A1
• Time in Patent Office: 935 Days
• Field of Search: 257/40, 257/59, 257/E29.117, 257301-307
• US Class Current: 257/59
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/1255 integrated with passive devices, e.g. auxiliary capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/1259 Multistep manufacturing methods
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/14 including semiconductor components sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation radiation-sensitive components structurally associated with one or more electric light sources only H01L31/14; couplings of light guides with optoelectronic elements G02B6/42
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/41733 for thin film transistors with insulated gate
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/4908 for thin film semiconductor, e.g. gate of TFT
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 59/1213 the pixel elements being TFTs
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 59/1216 the pixel elements being capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 71/00 Manufacture or treatment specially adapted for the organic devices covered by this subclass

Abstract

Provided are an organic light emitting display device and a method of manufacturing the same. The organic light emitting display device includes a thin-film transistor (TFT), which includes an active layer, a gate electrode, and source/drain electrodes; an organic electroluminescent device electrically connected to the TFT and includes a pixel electrode formed on the same layer as the gate electrode, an intermediate layer including an organic light emitting layer, and a counter electrode that are stacked in the order stated; and a capacitor, which includes a bottom electrode, which is formed on the same layer and of the same material as the active layer and is doped with an impurity; a top electrode formed on the same layer as the gate electrode; and a metal diffusion medium layer formed on the same layer as the source/drain electrodes and is connected to the bottom electrode.

Claims

1. An organic light emitting display device comprising:

a thin-film transistor (TFT), which comprises an active layer, a gate electrode, a source electrode and a drain electrode;

an organic electroluminescent device, which is electrically connected to the TFT, the organic electroluminescent device comprising;

a pixel electrode, which is formed on the same layer as the gate electrode;

an intermediate layer disposed on the pixel electrode and including an organic light emitting layer; and

a counter electrode disposed on the intermediate layer; and

a capacitor, which comprises;

a bottom electrode, which is formed on the same layer and of the same material as the active layer, and is doped with an impurity;

a top electrode, which is formed on the same layer as the gate electrode; and

a metal diffusion medium layer, which is formed on the same layer as the source and drain electrodes and is connected to the bottom electrode, wherein a plurality of slits is formed in the bottom electrode, and the metal diffusion medium layer is connected to the bottom electrode between the plurality of slits.

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

a first electrode, which is formed on the same layer and of the same material as the pixel electrode; and

a second electrode, which is formed on the first electrode.

3. The organic light emitting display device of claim 2, wherein the top electrode comprises:

a first top electrode, which is formed on the same layer and of the same material as the first electrode; and

a second top electrode, which is formed on the same layer and of the same material as the second electrode, and is partially removed to expose the first top electrode.

4. The organic light emitting display device of claim 1, wherein the pixel electrode is electrically connected to one of the source and drain electrodes.

5. An organic light emitting display device comprising:

a thin-film transistor (TFT), which comprises an active layer, a gate electrode, a source electrode and a drain electrode;

an organic electroluminescent device, which is electrically connected to the TFT, the organic electroluminescent device comprising;

a pixel electrode, which is formed on the same layer as the gate electrode;

an intermediate layer disposed on the pixel electrode and including an organic light emitting layer; and

a counter electrode disposed on the intermediate layer; and

a capacitor, which comprises;

a bottom electrode, which is formed on the same layer and of the same material as the active layer, and is doped with an impurity;

a top electrode, which is formed on the same layer as the gate electrode; and

a metal diffusion medium layer, which is formed on the same layer as the source and drain electrodes and is connected to the bottom electrode, wherein a groove is formed in the bottom electrode, and the metal diffusion medium layer is connected to the bottom electrode via the groove.

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

a first electrode, which is formed on the same layer and of the same material as the pixel electrode; and

a second electrode, which is formed on the first electrode.

7. The organic light emitting display device of claim 6, wherein the top electrode comprises:

a first top electrode, which is formed on the same layer and of the same material as the first electrode; and

a second top electrode, which is formed on the same layer and of the same material as the second electrode, and is partially removed to expose the first top electrode.

8. The organic light emitting display device of claim 5, wherein the pixel electrode is electrically connected to one of the source and drain electrodes.

9. The organic light emitting display device of claim 5, wherein a buffer layer is formed below the bottom electrode, and the groove extends to the buffer layer.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising forming a source region, a drain region, and a channel region between the source region and the drain region by doping the active layer.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the fourth masking operation further comprises doping the bottom electrode with an impurity via the top electrode and diffusing metal atoms in the metal diffusion medium layer into the bottom electrode.

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

forming an active layer of a thin-film transistor (TFT) and a bottom electrode of a capacitor on a substrate in a first masking operation;

forming electrode patterns for forming a gate electrode on the active layer, a pixel electrode on the substrate, and a top electrode of the capacitor on the bottom electrode in a second masking operation;

forming an interlayer insulation layer, which comprises openings for exposing two opposite ends of the active layer, a portion of the pixel electrode, a portion of the top electrode, and a portion of the bottom electrode in a third masking operation;

forming source and drain electrodes, which contact the two opposite ends of the active layer and the portion of the pixel electrode exposed by the openings, a metal diffusion medium layer, which contacts the portion of the bottom electrode exposed by the openings, and etching the pixel electrode and the top electrode in a fourth masking operation; and

forming a pixel defining layer, which exposes the pixel electrode in a fifth masking operation, wherein the organic light emitting display device comprising the thin-film transistor, an organic electroluminescent device, and the capacitor, the thin-film transistor comprising the active layer, the gate electrode, the source electrode and the drain electrode, the organic electroluminescent device being electrically connected to the thin-film transistor, the organic electroluminescent device comprising;

the pixel electrode, which is formed on the same layer as the gate electrode;

an intermediate layer disposed on the pixel electrode and including an organic light emitting layer; and

a counter electrode disposed on the intermediate layer; and

the capacitor comprising;

the bottom electrode, which is formed on the same layer and of the same material as the active layer, and is doped with an impurity;

the top electrode, which is formed on the same layer as the gate electrode; and

the metal diffusion medium layer, which is formed on the same layer as the source and drain electrodes and is connected to the bottom electrode, wherein a plurality of slits is formed in the bottom electrode, and the metal diffusion medium layer is connected to the bottom electrode between the plurality of slits.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the second masking operation comprises:

depositing a first insulation layer, a first conductive layer, and a second conductive layer on the active layer and the bottom electrode; and

forming the gate electrode by patterning the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer to respectively form a first electrode and a second electrode.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the fourth masking operation comprises:

depositing a third conductive layer on the interlayer insulation layer; and

forming the source and drain electrodes and the metal diffusion medium layer by patterning the third conductive layer.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the etching in the fourth masking operation comprises partially removing the second conductive layer to form the pixel electrode comprising the first conductive layer, and the top electrode comprising a first top electrode of the first conductive layer and a second top electrode of the partially removed second conductive layer.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the fifth masking operation comprises:

stacking a third insulation layer on the substrate; and

forming the pixel defining layer by patterning the third insulation layer.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of slits are formed in the bottom electrode during the first masking operation, and

the openings for exposing the bottom electrode are formed between the plurality of slits during the third masking operation.