Active-matrix organic light-emitting displays on flexible metal foils

This paper describes the development of a 3.5 inch diagonal Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode Display on flexible metal foils. The active matrix array had the VGA format and was fabricated using the polysilicon TFT technology. The advantages that the metal foil substrates offer for flexible display applications will first be discussed, followed by a discussion on the multilayer coatings that were investigated in order to achieve a high quality insulating layer on the metal foil substrate prior to TFT fabrication. Then the polysilicon TFT device performance will be presented as a function of the polysilicon crystallization method. Both laser crystallized polysilicon and solid phased crystallized polysilicon films were investigated for the TFT device fabrication. Due to the opaque nature of the metal foil substrates the display had a top emission structure. Both small molecule and polymer based organic material were investigated for the display emissive part. The former were evaporated while the latter were applied by spin-cast. Various transparent multi-layer metal films were investigated as the top cathode. The approach used to package the finished AMOLED display in order to protect the organic layers from environmental degradation will be described. The display had integrated polysilicon TFT scan drivers consisting of shift registers and buffers but external data drivers. The driving approach of the display will be discussed in detail. The performance of the finished display will be discussed as a function of the various materials and fabrication processes that were investigated.