Wearable electronic devices are being developed because of their wide potential applications and user convenience. Among them, wearable organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) play an important role in visualizing the data signal processed in wearable electronics to humans. In this study, textile-based OLEDs were fabricated and their practical utility was demonstrated. The textile-based OLEDs exhibited a stable operating lifetime under ambient conditions, enough mechanical durability to endure the deformation by the movement of humans, and washability for maintaining its optoelectronic properties even in water condition such as rain, sweat, or washing. In this study, the main technology used to realize this textile-based OLED was multi-functional near-room-temperature encapsulation. The outstanding impermeability of TiO2 film deposited at near-room-temperature was demonstrated. The internal residual stress in the encapsulation layer was controlled, and the device was capped by highly cross-linked hydrophobic polymer film, providing a highly impermeable, mechanically flexible, and waterproof encapsulation.
Thin film encapsulation (TFE) is an essential component to ensure reliable operation of environmentally susceptible organic light‐emitting diode‐based display. In order to integrate defect‐free TFE on display with complex surface structures, additional planarization layer is imperative to planarize the surface topography. The thickness of conventional planarization layer is as high as tens of µm, but the thickness must be reduced substantially to minimize the light leakage in smaller devices such as micro light‐emitting diodes. In this study, a thin—less than 2 µm—planarization is achieved via solvent‐free process, initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD). By adapting copolymer from two soft, but curable monomers, glycidyl acrylate (GA) and 2‐(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate, excellent planarization performance is achieved on various nano‐grating patterns. With only 1.5 µm‐thick iCVD planarization layer, a 600 nm‐deep trench polyurethane acrylate pattern is flattened completely. The TFE fabricated on planarized pattern exhibits excellent barrier property as fabricated on flat glass substrate, which strongly suggests that iCVD planarization layer can serve as a promising planarization layer to fabricate TFE on various types of complicated device surfaces.
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