The claimed invention was made by, on behalf of, and/or in connection with one or more of the following parties to a joint university corporation research agreement: Regents of the University of Michigan, Princeton University, The University of Southern California, and the Universal Display Corporation. The agreement was in effect on and before the date the claimed invention was made, and the claimed invention was made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of the agreement.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to light emitting devices such as OLED devices and, more specifically, to devices that include full-color pixel arrangements that have pixel arrangements that include not more than two colors of emissive regions and/or four colors of sub-pixels, and to OLEDs and other devices incorporating the same.

BACKGROUND

Opto-electronic devices that make use of organic materials are becoming increasingly desirable for a number of reasons. Many of the materials used to make such devices are relatively inexpensive, so organic opto-electronic devices have the potential for cost advantages over inorganic devices. In addition, the inherent properties of organic materials, such as their flexibility, may make them well suited for particular applications such as fabrication on a flexible substrate. Examples of organic opto-electronic devices include organic light emitting devices (OLEDs), organic phototransistors, organic photovoltaic cells, and organic photodetectors. For OLEDs, the organic materials may have performance advantages over conventional materials. For example, the wavelength at which an organic emissive layer emits light may generally be readily tuned with appropriate dopants.

OLEDs make use of thin organic films that emit light when voltage is applied across the device. OLEDs are becoming an increasingly interesting technology for use in applications such as flat panel displays, illumination, and backlighting. Several OLED materials and configurations are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,844,363, 6,303,238, and 5,707,745, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

One application for phosphorescent emissive molecules is a full color display. Industry standards for such a display call for pixels adapted to emit particular colors, referred to as “saturated” colors. In particular, these standards call for saturated red, green, and blue pixels. Color may be measured using CIE coordinates, which are well known to the art.

One example of a green emissive molecule is tris(2-phenylpyridine) iridium, denoted Ir(ppy)3, which has the following structure:



In this, and later figures herein, we depict the dative bond from nitrogen to metal (here, Ir) as a straight line.

As used herein, the term “organic” includes polymeric materials as well as small molecule organic materials that may be used to fabricate organic opto-electronic devices. “Small molecule” refers to any organic material that is not a polymer, and “small molecules” may actually be quite large. Small molecules may include repeat units in some circumstances. For example, using a long chain alkyl group as a substituent does not remove a molecule from the “small molecule” class. Small molecules may also be incorporated into polymers, for example as a pendent group on a polymer backbone or as a part of the backbone. Small molecules may also serve as the core moiety of a dendrimer, which consists of a series of chemical shells built on the core moiety. The core moiety of a dendrimer may be a fluorescent or phosphorescent small molecule emitter. A dendrimer may be a “small molecule,” and it is believed that all dendrimers currently used in the field of OLEDs are small molecules.

As used herein, “top” means furthest away from the substrate, while “bottom” means closest to the substrate. Where a first layer is described as “disposed over” a second layer, the first layer is disposed further away from substrate. There may be other layers between the first and second layer, unless it is specified that the first layer is “in contact with” the second layer. For example, a cathode may be described as “disposed over” an anode, even though there are various organic layers in between. As used herein, two layers or regions may be described as being disposed in a “stack” when at least a portion of one layer or region is disposed over at least a portion of the other.

As used herein, “solution processible” means capable of being dissolved, dispersed, or transported in and/or deposited from a liquid medium, either in solution or suspension form.

A ligand may be referred to as “photoactive” when it is believed that the ligand directly contributes to the photoactive properties of an emissive material. A ligand may be referred to as “ancillary” when it is believed that the ligand does not contribute to the photoactive properties of an emissive material, although an ancillary ligand may alter the properties of a photoactive ligand.

As used herein, and as would be generally understood by one skilled in the art, a first “Highest Occupied Molecular Orbital” (HOMO) or “Lowest Unoccupied Molecular Orbital” (LUMO) energy level is “greater than” or “higher than” a second HOMO or LUMO energy level if the first energy level is closer to the vacuum energy level. Since ionization potentials (IP) are measured as a negative energy relative to a vacuum level, a higher HOMO energy level corresponds to an IP having a smaller absolute value (an IP that is less negative). Similarly, a higher LUMO energy level corresponds to an electron affinity (EA) having a smaller absolute value (an EA that is less negative). On a conventional energy level diagram, with the vacuum level at the top, the LUMO energy level of a material is higher than the HOMO energy level of the same material. A “higher” HOMO or LUMO energy level appears closer to the top of such a diagram than a “lower” HOMO or LUMO energy level.

As used herein, and as would be generally understood by one skilled in the art, a first work function is “greater than” or “higher than” a second work function if the first work function has a higher absolute value. Because work functions are generally measured as negative numbers relative to vacuum level, this means that a “higher” work function is more negative. On a conventional energy level diagram, with the vacuum level at the top, a “higher” work function is illustrated as further away from the vacuum level in the downward direction. Thus, the definitions of HOMO and LUMO energy levels follow a different convention than work functions.

Layers, materials, regions, and devices may be described herein in reference to the color of light they emit. In general, as used herein, an emissive region that is described as producing a specific color of light may include one or more emissive layers disposed over each other in a stack.

As used herein, a “red” layer, material, region, or device refers to one that emits light in the range of about 580-700 nm; a “green” layer, material, region, or device refers to one that has an emission spectrum with a peak wavelength in the range of about 500-600 nm; a “blue” layer, material, or device refers to one that has an emission spectrum with a peak wavelength in the range of about 400-500 nm; and a “yellow” layer, material, region, or device refers to one that has an emission spectrum with a peak wavelength in the range of about 540-600 nm. In some arrangements, separate regions, layers, materials, regions, or devices may provide separate “deep blue” and a “light blue” light. As used herein, in arrangements that provide separate “light blue” and “deep blue”, the “deep blue” component refers to one having a peak emission wavelength that is at least about 4 nm less than the peak emission wavelength of the “light blue” component. Typically, a “light blue” component has a peak emission wavelength in the range of about 465-500 nm, and a “deep blue” component has a peak emission wavelength in the range of about 400-470 nm, though these ranges may vary for some configurations. Similarly, a color altering layer refers to a layer that converts or modifies another color of light to light having a wavelength as specified for that color. For example, a “red” color filter refers to a filter that results in light having a wavelength in the range of about 580-700 nm. In general, there are two classes of color altering layers: color filters that modify a spectrum by removing unwanted wavelengths of light, and color changing layers that convert photons of higher energy to lower energy. A component “of a color” refers to a component that, when activated or used, produces or otherwise emits light having a particular color as previously described. For example, a “first emissive region of a first color” and a “second emissive region of a second color different than the first color” describes two emissive regions that, when activated within a device, emit two different colors as previously described.

In some cases, it may be preferable to describe the color of a component such as an emissive region, sub-pixel, color altering layer, or the like, in terms of 1931 CIE coordinates. For example, a yellow emissive material may have multiple peak emission wavelengths, one in or near an edge of the “green” region, and one within or near an edge of the “red” region as previously described. Accordingly, as used herein, each color term also corresponds to a shape in the 1931 CIE coordinate color space. The shape in 1931 CIE color space is constructed by following the locus between two color points and any additional interior points. For example, interior shape parameters for red, green, blue, and yellow may be defined as shown below and as illustrated inFIG. 75:

ColorCIE shape parametersCentral RedLocus: [0.6270, 0.3725]; [0.7347, 0.2653]; Interior: [0.5086, 0.2657]Central GreenLocus: [0.0326, 0.3530]; [0.3731, 0.6245]; Interior: [0.2268, 0.3321]Central BlueLocus: [0.1746, 0.0052]; [0.0326, 0.3530]; Interior: [0.2268, 0.3321]Central YellowLocus: [0.3731, 0.6245]; [0.6270, 0.3725];Interior: [0.3700, 0.4087]; [0.2886, 0.4572]
Thus, for example, a “red” emissive region will emit light having CIE coordinates within the triangle formed by the vertices [0.6270,0.3725];[0.7347,0.2653]:[0.5086,0.2657]. Where the line between points [0.6270,0.3725] and [0.7347,0.2653] follows the locus of the 1931 color space. More complex color space regions can similarly be defined, such as the case with the green region. The color of the component is typically measured perpendicular to the substrate.

More details on OLEDs, and the definitions described above, can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 7,279,704, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Various embodiments disclosed herein provide devices, such as OLED displays, and techniques for the fabrication thereof, which include a limited number of emissive regions, while still being capable of providing sufficient color range to provide full-color displays and similar devices.

In an embodiment, a full-color pixel arrangement for a device such as an OLED display is provided. The arrangement includes a plurality of pixels, each of which includes sub-pixels having emissive regions and optical path lengths, where at least two sub-pixels have different optical path lengths. The full-color pixel arrangement may include emissive regions of exactly two colors. The emissive regions may be disposed laterally adjacent to one another over the substrate. The full-color pixel arrangement may include four or more sub-pixels. Each sub-pixel may have a different optical path length, or some sub-pixels may have the same optical path length. Each pixel may include multiple sub-pixels configured to emit different colors of light, where each sub-pixel may have a different optical path length than some or all of the others. The arrangement may include two, three, four, or more sub-pixels. More generally, the full-color pixel arrangement may include N total sub-pixels having an emissive region of a first color, with 0 to N−1 color altering layers and/or N+1 or N+2 total sub-pixels. Different optical path lengths may be provided by layers having different thicknesses within each sub-pixel, such as transport or blocking layers of different thicknesses, or by a patterned electrode, such as a patterned anode, disposed under the emissive regions of the sub-pixels. Different portions of the patterned electrode may have different thicknesses, such that portions of the electrode that serve as an electrode for each sub-pixel stack have different thicknesses. In some embodiments, the total thickness of organic layers within each sub-pixel may be the same, and/or the thicknesses of the same type of organic layer within each sub-pixel may be the same as in some or all of the other sub-pixels. The full-color pixel arrangement may include no color altering layers such as color filters. Emissive regions in the sub-pixels may include one or more emissive materials, which may be included in a single emissive layer.

Arrangements disclosed herein may be incorporated into a wide variety of devices, such as a wearable device, a flat panel display, a computer monitor, a medical monitor, a television, a billboard, a light for interior or exterior illumination, a signal, a color tunable or color temperature tunable lighting source, a heads-up display, a 3D display, a fully transparent display, a flexible display, a laser printer, a telephone, a cell phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop computer, a digital camera, a camcorder, a viewfinder, a micro-display, a vehicle, a large area wall, a theater or stadium screen, and a sign. Such devices may have relatively high resolutions, such as at least 250 dpi, 500 dpi, or even greater than 1000 dpi.

In an embodiment, a method of fabricating a pixel arrangement is provided, in which a transparent layer is constructed having at least one optical characteristic, such as the optical path length or thickness, or the index of refraction, which is different in different regions of the layer, each of which may correspond to different sub-pixels within the display. The layer may be disposed in the arrangement as part of an electrode stack.

In an embodiment, a method of fabricating a pixel arrangement is provided, in which a patterned layer is fabricated over a substrate so as to define at least two non-overlapping sub-pixel regions over the substrate. First and second emissive materials may be deposited over first and second regions defined by the pattern, and an electrode may be fabricated over the emissive materials. The various layers of the arrangement may be fabricated such that the sub-pixel regions have different optical paths between the substrate and the electrode layer. The patterned layer may be a layer deposited over or as a part of an electrode layer disposed over the substrate and below the patterned layer. Fabricating the patterned layer also may be performed by patterning an existing electrode layer disposed over the substrate, such as by a photolithographic or similar technique.

In an embodiment, a pixel arrangement may include multiple sub-pixels, where at least one layer in each sub-pixel has a different thickness than the same layer in each other sub-pixel. The arrangement may include emissive regions of not more than two colors.

In an embodiment, a pixel arrangement including multiple sub-pixels may be fabricated by fabricating a plurality of layers over a substrate, at least one layer in each sub-pixel having a different thickness than the same layer in each of the other sub-pixels.

