Patterning of oled materials

Abstract

A method of making a patterned OLED layer or layers. The method uses a shadow mask having, for example, a free-standing silicon nitride membrane to pattern color emitter material with a feature size of less than 10 microns. The methods can be used, for example, in the manufacture of OLED microdisplays.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 providing a shadow mask having a free-standing silicon nitride membrane; and   forming a pattern of a first color emitter material on a substrate using the shadow mask, wherein the pattern of a first color emitter material has one or more first color emitter material structures having at least one dimension of less than 10 microns.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising forming a pattern of a second color emitter material on the substrate having the pattern of the first color emitter material using a second shadow mask having a free-standing silicon nitride membrane, wherein the pattern of the second color emitter material has one or more second color emitter material structures having at least one dimension of less than 10 microns. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the first color emitter material structures and second color emitter material structures do not overlap. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising forming a pattern of a third color emitter material on the substrate having the pattern of the first color emitter material and the pattern of the second color emitter material using a third shadow mask having a free-standing silicon nitride membrane, wherein the pattern of third color emitter material has one or more third color emitter material structures having at least one dimension of less than 10 microns. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the first color emitter material structures and second color emitter material structures and third color emitter material structures do not overlap. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the forming comprises deposition through the shadow mask using one of evaporation or sputtering. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the substrate is part of an organic light-emitting diode. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the shadow mask defines apertures having at least one dimension of 2.8 μm to 14 μm. 
     
     
         9 . A pattern of color emitter material on a substrate made by the method of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         10 . The pattern of color emitter material of  claim 9 , wherein the substrate forms a portion of an organic light-emitting diode. 
     
     
         11 . The pattern of color emitter material of  claim 9 , wherein the substrate forms a portion of a device. 
     
     
         12 . The pattern of color emitter material of  claim 11 , wherein the device is a display. 
     
     
         13 . The pattern of color emitter material of  claim 12 , wherein the device is a microdisplay. 
     
     
         14 . A device comprising a pattern of color emitter material made by the method of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         15 . The device of  claim 14 , wherein the device is a display. 
     
     
         16 . The device of  claim 15 , wherein the display is a microdisplay.