Sinovia Technologies, Inc. — Department of Energy SBIR Phase I: 14b

Description

Sinovia Technologies, in collaboration with Vitriflex, Inc-, has developed an integrated substrate for OLED lighting using a flexible plastic support- This integrated substrate has low water vapor transport of 10-6 g/m2/day as well as sheet resistance tunable between 1 and 10 ohms/sq with total transparency values over 75% at the highest conductivities, suitable for large-area devices- The transparent conductive film is comprised of silver nanowires embedded into the surface of a barrier-enhancing polymer- The surface has an average roughness under 3 nm, which is critical to prevent shorting through the nm-scale thick OLED layers, while the film introduces up to 45% haze that aids light out-coupling- Preliminary results show 30% - 50% increases in all white OLED efficiency metrics and LT70 lifetimes of 80% compared to rigid control devices- These integrated substrates have the potential to bring about a market inflection point for OLED lighting by enabling curved and flexible form factors while simultaneously lowering the cost of OLED panels- However, one challenge remains for this substrate system, and this is patterning- Current patterning techniques, including photolithography and laser ablation, have significant drawbacks when patterning a flexible film- In addition, those methods have the potential to damage the barrier layers that prevent oxygen and moisture from reaching the OLED, shortening lifetime- And to truly realize a low-cost substrate solution, the patterning method should be high- throughput and roll-to-roll, even if the rest of the OLED is deposited using batch processes-