Low-Cost Roll Process For Flexible & Rigid Glass OLED Lighting Substrates: Providing Encapsulation-Ready Enhanced Light Extraction and a Smooth Current Spreading Conductor

OLED lighting offers a new paradigm in lighting for industrial, commercial and residential applications: ultra-thin, lightweight, flexible, large-area panels that produce soft lighting for very comfortable direct viewing. However, the widespread adoption of OLED solid-state lighting continues to be hampered by a several key technical and cost limitations, including low efficiency, poor output uniformity, extreme sensitivity to moisture and oxygen, and not least, high manufacturing costs. We have developed a new process, Roll-to-Roll-to-Plate (‘R2R2P’) Decal Transfer, designed to address all of the challenges described above. This process will produce an integrated, enhanced low-cost substrate for OLED deposition that incorporates efficient light extraction structures (both internal and external), and a high performance smooth current spreading transparent conductor layer. The new process will produce these enhancement features on rigid or flexible glass substrates with improved encapsulation capability and will result in costs that are significantly lower than published DOE targets. In Phase I, we will provide a coupon-based proof-of-concept demonstration of the Decal Transfer process which will produce an OLED substrate that incorporates all of the technology features described above, in particular on flexible and rigid glass. Samples will be sent to team members and the DOE OLED Test Facility (OLEDWorks) for OLED deposition and testing. The goal of the overall effort (Phase I through III to commercialization) is to develop and manufacture integrated, enhanced OLED substrates to meet the requirements of today’s OLED manufacturers. Public benefits from the successful implementation of the proposed process include contributing to the long-term US goals in energy conservation and a clean energy future by reducing both the cost of lighting and the consumption of energy. Commercialization of this new form of lighting will create new applications and markets—in addition to creating new jobs and enhancing US manufacturing competitiveness.