This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 97114886, filed on Apr. 23, 2008. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of specification.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a thin film transistor and a pixel structure, in particularly, to a method for manufacturing an organic thin film transistor and a pixel structure, a method for manufacturing the same, and a display panel having the pixel structure.
2. Description of Related Art
Among various flat-panel displays, organic light-emitting displays (OLED) will most probably challenge the liquid crystal display (LCD) apparatuses in the future. The OLED is substantially made a material of organic compounds, and has many advantages such as high contrast, high brightness, wide viewing angle, quick speed, less power consumption, “light, thin, short, and small,” and flexibility that LCD apparatuses lacks. However, the OLED still has some disadvantages to be overcome. For example, the service life of the OLED needs to be extended, the fabrication technique of the devices is not as mature as that of the LCD apparatuses, and the fabrication yield is relatively low.
In a common AM-OLED structure, a passivation layer is fabricated by a high-temperature process, and conductive vias are formed therein to achieve the current transmission. Or, a passivation layer is patterned to expose the pixel electrode, so as to achieve the current transmission. Although it is not difficult to fabricate the passivation layer of the conventional inorganic thin film transistor, regarding an organic thin film transistor containing an organic material, the high-temperature fabrication process of the passivation layer or the process for forming the conductive vias is liable to deteriorate the characteristics of the devices of the organic thin film transistor. When fabricating the passivation layer by a photolithography process, the characteristics of the devices may also be affected by the material residues of the passivation layer, which results in the drift of the characteristics of the devices after the subsequent processes.
Accordingly, the present invention is related to provide a method for manufacturing an organic thin film transistor, which includes the following steps. A patterned insulating layer having an opening therein is formed on a substrate. A gate is formed in the opening of the insulating layer. A gate insulating layer is formed on the gate. A conductive material layer is formed on the gate insulating layer by a printing process. One of the gate insulating layer and the conductive material layer is hydrophobic or hydrophilic and the other is hydrophilic or hydrophobic, such that the conductive material layer is naturally separated to two sides of the gate insulating layer to form a source and a drain. An active layer is formed on the gate insulating layer between the source and the drain.
The present invention further provides a method for manufacturing a pixel structure, which includes the following steps. At least one organic thin film transistor and an anode layer electrically connected to the organic thin film transistor are formed on the substrate. The organic thin film transistor includes a gate, a gate insulating layer, a source, a drain, and an active layer. A patterned insulating layer is formed above the substrate by a printing process. The patterned insulating layer exposes the anode layer. An organic light-emitting layer is formed on an exposed surface of the anode layer. Then, a cathode layer is formed on the organic light-emitting layer.
The present invention further provides a pixel structure, which includes at least one organic thin film transistor, an anode layer, a patterned insulating layer, an organic light-emitting layer, and a cathode layer. The organic thin film transistor is disposed on the substrate and includes a gate, a gate insulating layer, a source, a drain, and an active layer. The anode layer is disposed on the substrate and is electrically connected to the organic thin film transistor. The patterned insulating layer is disposed on the substrate and exposes the anode layer. The organic light-emitting layer is disposed on an exposed surface of the anode layer. The cathode layer covers the organic light-emitting layer. The cathode layer does not extend to above the active layer of the organic thin film transistor.
The present invention further provides an organic light-emitting display panel, which includes a substrate, data lines, scan lines, power supply lines, a pixel array, and a protection structure. The data lines, the scan lines, and the power supply lines are disposed on the substrate. The pixel array is disposed on the substrate, and pixels are electrically connected to one of the data lines, one of the scan lines, and one of the power supply lines. Each of the pixels includes at least one organic thin film transistor, and the organic thin film transistor includes a gate, a gate insulating layer, a source, a drain, and an active layer. The anode layer is disposed on the substrate and is electrically connected to the organic thin film transistor. The patterned insulating layer is disposed on the substrate and exposes the anode layer. The organic light-emitting layer is disposed on an exposed surface of the anode layer. The cathode layer covers the organic light-emitting layer. The cathode layer does not extend to above the active layer of the organic thin film transistor. Furthermore, the protection structure is disposed above the substrate and isolates the pixel array from outside.
In order to the make the present invention comprehensible, embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.
Hereinafter, the films that compose each pixel structure P are illustrated with reference to
Further, the OLED O includes an anode layer 16, an organic light-emitting layer 20, and a cathode layer 22. The OLED O and the transistors T1, T2 are isolated by a patterned insulating layer 18. The anode layer 16 is connected to the drain D2 of the organic thin film transistor T2. In an embodiment, the materials of the anode layer 16 and the source/drain S2/D2, S1/D1 are the same, for example, transparent metal oxide, such as indium-tin oxide (ITO) or indium-zinc oxide (IZO). The patterned insulating layer 18 covers the organic thin film transistors T1, T2 and exposes the anode layer 16. The organic light-emitting layer 20 is disposed on a surface of the anode layer 16. The cathode layer covers the organic light-emitting layer 20, but does not extend to above the organic thin film transistors T1, T2.
The method for manufacturing the pixel structure includes the following steps. First, an organic thin film transistor and a capacitor are formed by a conventional method. That is, a gate, a gate insulating layer, a source/drain, and an active layer of the organic thin film transistor T1, T2 and an electrode end, a capacitor dielectric layer, another electrode end of the capacitor C, and an anode layer of the OLED O are formed in sequence by deposition processes and photolithography and etching processes. In an embodiment, the anode layer of the OLED O and the source and the drain of the organic thin film transistor are defined at the same time, that is, through the same one process.
After the fabrication of the above devices is completed, a patterned insulating layer 18 is formed by a printing process. The printing process may be an ink-jet printing, a screen printing, an imprinting, or a contact printing process. Since the printing process for forming the patterned insulating layer 18 is a method capable of directly forming a patterned film, the formed patterned film 18 already has a specific pattern without going through a deposition and etching process. Therefore, after the printing process is completed, the formed patterned insulating layer 18 exposes the anode layer 16.
Thereafter, an organic light-emitting layer 20 is formed on the anode layer 16, and a cathode layer 22 is formed on the organic light-emitting layer 20.
Usually, after the pixel array is fabricated, a protection structure may be formed on the pixel array to form an organic light-emitting display panel. Referring to
In the above embodiments, the organic thin film transistor is formed by conventional processes, and then the patterned insulating layer is formed by the printing process, so as to avoid the deterioration of the characteristics of the devices caused by the high-temperature deposition process and the etching process in the conventional deposition and etching method for forming the passivation insulating layer. The present invention further provides a special method for forming the organic thin film transistor, which will be described as follows.
A material of the insulating layer 104 may be a non-conductive material, such as an organic material, an inorganic material, an organic-inorganic mixed material, or a composite material. The insulating layer 104 may be fabricated by a printing process or a laser patterning technique. The printing process includes, for example, an ink-jet printing, a screen printing, an imprinting, or a contact printing process. The laser patterning technique includes laser transfer and laser etching.
Then, as shown in
Thereafter, as shown in
Then, as shown in
Thereafter, as shown in
The present invention provides a method for manufacturing an organic thin film transistor, such as a printing process. The films of the organic thin film transistor may be fabricated by the printing, so as to reduce the use of the mask and vacuum process and equipment, thus simplifying the process. Further, since the source and the drain are fabricated based on the hydrophobic or hydrophilic property of the liquid drops, the formed source/drain and gate will not be overlapped, thus reducing the parasitic-capacitance in the transistor device.
The organic thin film transistor of the embodiments may also be formed to have a comb pattern structure described in the above embodiments.
First, referring to
Then, as shown in
Thereafter, as shown in
Next, as shown in
After the fabrication of the organic thin film transistor as shown in
In view of the above, the insulating layer in the pixel structure of the present invention is a specific pattern structure directly formed by the printing process, thus avoiding the deterioration of the characteristics of the devices caused by the conventional high-temperature processes for fabricating the insulating layer and the impacts of the residues of the insulating layer on the characteristics of the devices and the light transmittance. Since the patterning process such as etching is not required additionally, the deterioration of the characteristics of the devices of the organic thin film transistor caused by the patterning process can be avoided.
Furthermore, in the organic thin film transistor, the source and the drain are formed on the gate insulating layer based on the hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties of the materials, so the source/drain and the gate are not overlapped, thus reducing the parasitic-capacitance between the source/drain and the gate in the transistor device.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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97114886 | Apr 2008 | TW | national |