A 200 nm×2 mm array of organic light-emitting diodes and their anisotropic electroluminescence

Abstract

We demonstrated the fabrication of a 200 nm×2 mm array of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) on a glass substrate. The photolithographic technique using an optical phase shift mask allowed us to construct a super-fine resolution patterning of OLEDs. A single organic electroluminescent (EL) layer composed of an inert poly(methylmethacrylate) polymer binder and tetraphenylbendidine and tris(8-quinolinol) aluminum molecules was fabricated on a fine-resolution photoresist patterning by a spin coating method. The lines and spaces of the photoresist patterning were 200 nm. The emitting area was well confined by the regular array of residual photoresist resin walls. Finally, a MgAg cathode layer was uniformly deposited on the organic layer. We observed anisotropic EL spectra between the directions perpendicular and parallel to the patterning of OLED arrays. Furthermore, we observed a large difference of EL intensities between them. We assume that the anisotropic EL characteristics are caused by the confinement effect of photons inside the submicrometer-sized OLED array.