Patent Grant
10333095
This application claims the benefit of priority of TW Patent Application Ser. No. 107106861 filed on Mar. 1, 2018, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present disclosure relates to an organic electroluminescence component. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to an organic electroluminescence component that can provide a gradient-brightness surface and an organic electroluminescence device using the organic electroluminescence component.
An organic electroluminescence component is formed by two electrodes and an organic material layer sandwiched between the two electrodes. By applying a proper voltage onto the organic electroluminescence component, the organic material layer is excited to emit light. The organic electroluminescence component has the characteristics of thinness, lightness, high luminous efficiency, high color rendering, etc., and can be fabricated on a glass substrate or a flexible plastic substrate, so it is suitable for use in the field of illumination to replace the general illumination source.
In general, an organic electroluminescence component as an illumination source focuses on emitting light uniformly and stably. However, the focus of such an illumination source on the uniform illumination is inevitably causing monotonous and lack of variation, and needs to be further improved.
Therefore, how to develop a solution to improve the above-mentioned lack and inconvenience is an important issue in the organic electroluminescent lighting industry.
An embodiment of the present disclosure is to provide an organic electroluminescence component. The organic electroluminescence component includes a substrate, a first electrode layer, an organic material layer, a second electrode layer and a first electrical connection portion. The first electrode layer is located on the substrate. The second electrode layer is located on the substrate. The organic material layer is located between the second electrode layer and the first electrode layer, and a common overlapping region of the second electrode layer, the organic material layer and at least one part of the first electrode layer defines a light-emitting region. The at least one part of the first electrode layer has a shape having a first end and a second end opposite to each other, and the first electrode layer has different impedances at the first end and the second end of the shape, respectively. The first electrical connection portion is electrically connected to one end of the first electrode layer, and located opposite to the second end of the shape of the first electrode layer.
According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, in the aforementioned organic electroluminescence component, the light-emitting region is defined by a common overlapping region of the second electrode layer, the organic material layer and the entire first electrode layer, and the shape is the entire contour of the first electrode layer.
According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the aforementioned organic electroluminescence component further includes an isolation layer. The isolation layer is stacked between the organic material layer and the first electrode layer. The isolation layer includes at least one opening. The at least one part of the first electrode layer is completely exposed from the at least one opening, and the organic material layer is connected to the at least one part of the first electrode layer through the at least one opening.
According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, in the aforementioned organic electroluminescence component, the first end of the aforementioned shape is less than the second end of the aforementioned shape in width.
According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the aforementioned organic electroluminescence component further includes a second electrical connection portion. The second electrical connection portion is electrically connected to the other end of the first electrode layer, and is located opposite to the first electrical connection portion. The width of the end where the first electrode layer is electrically connected to the first electrical connection portion is not larger than the length of the first electrical connection portion, and the width of the other end at which the first electrode layer is electrically connected to the second electrical connection portion is not larger than the length of the second electrical connection portion.
According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the aforementioned organic electroluminescence component further includes a changeover switch. The changeover switch is electrically connected to the first electrical connection portion and the second electrical connection portion, in order to use a power unit to selectively switch on the first electrical connection portion and/or the second electrical connection portion.
According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, when the changeover switch only switches on the first electrical connection portion and the power unit applies a voltage to the first electrode layer and the second electrode layer, a gradient-brightness surface is generated in the light-emitting region. The gradient-brightness surface gradually decreases its brightness step by step in a direction from the first end to the second end, and the brightness percentage of the gradient-brightness surface ranges from 100% to 10%. When the changeover switch only switches on the second electrical connection portion and the power unit applies a voltage to the first electrode layer and the second electrode layer, a gradient-brightness surface is generated in the light-emitting region. The gradient-brightness surface gradually decreases its brightness step by step in a direction from the second end to the first end, and the brightness percentage of the gradient-brightness surface ranges from 100% to 50%.
According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, in the aforementioned organic electroluminescence component, the aforementioned shape has a line symmetric shape. The symmetric axis of the line symmetric shape is parallel with the long axis direction of the first electrode layer.
According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, in the aforementioned organic electroluminescence component, the shape gradually increases in width in the direction from the first end to the second end.
According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, in the aforementioned organic electroluminescence component, the aforementioned shape is one of, or approximates to, a triangle, trapezoid, sector, and pentagon.
Another embodiment of the present disclosure is to provide an organic electroluminescence device. The organic electroluminescence device includes a power unit and at least two organic electroluminescence components. Each of the organic electroluminescence components includes a substrate, a first electrode layer, an organic material layer, a second electrode layer, a first electrical connection portion, a second electrical connection portion, and a changeover switch. The first electrode layer is located on the substrate. The second electrode layer is located on the substrate. The organic material layer is located between the second electrode layer and the first electrode layer, and a common overlapping region of the second electrode layer, the organic material layer and at least one part of the first electrode layer defines a light-emitting region. The at least one part of the first electrode layer has a shape having a first end and a second end opposite to each other, and the first electrode layer has different impedances at the first end and the second end of the shape, respectively. The first electrical connection portion is electrically connected to one end of the first electrode layer, and located opposite to the second end of the shape of the first electrode layer. The second electrical connection portion is electrically connected to the other end of the first electrode layer, and located opposite to the first electrical connection portion. The changeover switch is electrically connected to the first electrical connection portion and the second electrical connection portion, and is used to enable the power unit to selectively switch on the first electrical connection portion and/or the second electrical connection portion. The power unit is electrically connected to the changeover switch and the second electrode layer of each organic electroluminescence component, in order to independently control these organic electroluminescence components for different light-emitting requirements.
According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, in the aforementioned organic electroluminescence device, a gradient-brightness surface and a uniform-brightness surface are generated in these light-emitting regions of these organic electroluminescence components, respectively.
According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the aforementioned organic electroluminescence device is a decorative lamp or a direction indication lamp.
In this way, through the demonstration of the aforementioned embodiments, the organic electroluminescence device can provide a light-emitting surface gradually changing its brightness step by step, so as to improve the application flexibility of OLED in the lighting field, and in turn improve the user preference.
The above description is merely used for illustrating the problems to be resolved, the technical methods for resolving the problems and their efficacies, etc. The specific details of the present disclosure will be explained in the embodiments below and related drawings.
In order to achieve the aforementioned and other purposes, features, and advantages, and make the embodiments of the present disclosure more clearly understood, the accompanying drawings are illustrated as below.
Plural embodiments of the present disclosure are disclosed through drawings. For the purpose of clear illustration, many practical details will be illustrated along with the description below. It should be understood that, however, these practical details should not limit the present disclosure. In other words, in embodiments of the present disclosure, these practical details are not necessary. In addition, for the purpose of simplifying the drawings, some conventional structures and components are simply and schematically depicted in the figures.
It is to be understood that although particular phrases used herein, such as “first”, “second”, “third”, and so on, are used to describe different components, members, regions, layers, and/or sections, these components, members, regions, layers, and/or sections should not be limited by these terms. These phrases are used to distinguish one component, member, region, layer, or section from another component, member, region, layer, or section. In this way, a first component, member, region, layer, and/or section to be described below may be referred to as a second component, member, region, layer, and/or section, without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.
Spatially relative phrases, such as “under”, “below”, “underlying”, “beneath”, “on”, “above”, and so on used herein, are used for facilitating description of a relation between one component or feature and another component or feature depicted in the drawings. Therefore, it can be understood that, in addition to directions depicted in the drawings, the spatially relative terms mean to include all different orientations during usage or operations of the device. For example, it is assumed that a device in a figure is reversed upside down, a component described as being “under”, “below”, or “beneath” another component or feature is oriented “on” the other component or feature. Therefore, these exemplary terms “under” and “below” may include orientations above and below. The device may be otherwise oriented (e.g., turned by 90 degrees, or other orientations), and the spatially relative terms used herein should be explained accordingly.
Accordingly, it may be understood that when a component or a layer is referred to as being “on” or “connected to”, or “coupled to” another component or another layer, it may be immediately on the other component or layer, or connected to or coupled to the other component or layer, or there may be one or more intermediate components or intermediate layers. Further, it can be understood that when a component or a layer is referred to as being “between” two components or two layers, it may be the only component or layer between the two components or layers, or there may be one or more intermediate components or intermediate layers.
Terminologies used herein are only for the purpose of describing particular embodiments, but not limiting the present disclosure. The singular form of “a” and “the” used herein may also include the plural form, unless otherwise indicated in the context. Accordingly, it can be understood that when there terms “include” or “comprise” are used in the specification, it clearly illustrates the existence of a specified feature, bulk, step, operation, component, and/or member, while not excluding the existence or addition of one or more features, bulks, steps, operations, components, members and/or groups thereof. “And/or” used herein includes any and all combinations of one or more related terms that are listed. When a leading word, such as “at least one of”, is added ahead of a component list, it is to describe the entire component list, but not individual components among the list.
Reference is now made to
In the embodiment, the aforementioned light-emitting region P1 is defined by the common overlapping region of the second electrode layer 270, the organic material layer 260 and the entire first electrode layer 220. The shape of the orthographic projection from the entire first electrode layer 220 to the substrate 210 (i.e., the entire contour of the first electrode layer 220) is provided with a first end 221 and a second end 222 opposite to the first end 221, and the long axis direction of the first electrode layer 220 (referring to D1) goes through both of the first end 221 and the second end 222.
The first end 221 and the second end 222 of the first electrode layer 220 are located opposite to each other, and the first end 221 differs from the second end 222 in impedance. In the embodiment, the width 221W of the first end 221 of the first electrode layer 220 is less than the width 222W of the second end 222. For example, the width 222W of the second end 222 of the first electrode layer 220 may be twice to 100 times of the width 221W of the first end 221. However, the above are merely examples and are not intended to be limitations of the invention.
More specifically, the length 220L of the first electrode layer 220 is 30 mm-300 mm, and the thickness 220T of the first electrode layer 220 is 50 nm-200 nm. However, the above is merely an example and is not intended to be a limitation of the present invention.
In addition, each organic electroluminescence component 200 further includes a first electrical connection portion 230. The first electrical connection portion 230 is electrically connected to the first end 221 of the first electrode layer 220, and located opposite to the second end 222. In the embodiment, the width 221W of the first end 221 of the first electrode layer 220 is not larger than the length 230L of the first electrical connection portion 230. In the embodiment, for example, the length 230L of the first electrical connection portion 230 is 5 mm-100 mm. However, the present disclosure is not limited to this range. Under other requirements or limitations, the width 221W of the first end 221 of the first electrode layer 220 may also be equal to the length of the first electrical connection portion 230.
Thus, in the embodiment, when the power unit 100 inputs current to the first electrode layer 220 through the first electrical connection portion 230 only, but not through an additional secondary electrode (e.g., a bus bar), because the width 221W of the first end 221 of the first electrode layer 220 is less than the width 222W of the second end 222 of the first electrode layer 220, the first end 221 of the first electrode layer 220 is larger than the second end 222 of the first electrode layer 220 in impedance. As a result, when the current goes through the first electrode layer 220 in the direction from the first end 221 to the second end 222, because of higher resistance and more concentrated current on the side of the first end 221, the voltage on the side of the first end 221 is higher than that on the side of the second end 222 in the organic electroluminescence component 200. The voltage of the organic electroluminescence component 200 gradually decreased in the direction D1, thus generating the first gradient-brightness surface E1 in the light-emitting region P1. The first gradient-brightness surface E1 gradually decreases its brightness step by step in the direction D1 from the first end 221 to the second end 222.
In the embodiment, because the entire contour of the first electrode layer 220 of the organic electroluminescence component 200 is, or approximates to, a trapezoid, the organic electroluminescence component 200 may provide the first gradient-brightness surface E1 with a trapezoidal shape upon excitation.
In addition, although the entire contour of the first electrode layer 220 mentioned in the embodiment is a trapezoid, the shape of the first electrode layer 220 is not limit to any particular shape, such as a triangle, a sector, a pentagon, or any non-geometrical shape, as long as the width 221W of the first end 221 of the first electrode layer 220 is less than the width 222W of the second end 222, and the width gradually increases in the direction D1 from the first end 221 to the second end 222. Moreover, although the entire contour of the first electrode layer 220 has a line symmetric shape and the symmetric axis of the line symmetric shape is parallel with the long axis of the first electrode layer 220, the entire contour of the first electrode layer 220 is not limit to the line symmetric shape.
Moreover, in the embodiment, the substrate 210 is, but not limited to, a light-transmitting substrate, for example, a glass, sapphire, or plastic substrate, etc. However, the substrate 210 described in the present disclosure is not limited to being rigid or flexible. The development of the organic material layer 260 is relatively mature in the organic electroluminescence field, so the material of the organic material layer 260 is not limited in the present disclosure. The first electrode layer 220 is a light-transmitting electrode of which the material is, for example, indium tin oxide (ITO), indium zinc oxide (IZO), or aluminum zinc oxide (AZO), or any combinations thereof. The second electrode layer 270 is a reflective electrode of which the material is aluminum (Al), silver (Ag), Magnesium (Mg), Calcium (Ca), or Lithium (Li), or any combinations thereof. However, the second electrode layer 270 may also be made of thin metal materials or light-transmitting electrode material, enabling the second electrode to transmit light to additionally provide a double-sided display effect.
Specifically, in the embodiment, the light-emitting region P2 is defined by the common overlapping region of the second electrode layer 270, the organic material layer 260 and the portion 223 of the first electrode layer 220. Therefore, the shape of the portion 223 of the first electrode layer 220 has the first end 224 and the second end 225, which are opposite to each other and have different impedances. In the embodiment, for example, the width 225W of the second end 225 of the portion 223 of the first electrode layer 220 is twice to 100 times of the width 224W of the first end 224, and the length 223L of the portion 223 of the first electrode layer 220 is 30 mm to 300 mm. However, the above is merely an example and is not intended to be a limitation of the present disclosure.
In addition, in the embodiment, the isolation layer 280 is formed on the first electrode layer 220. For example, the isolation layer 280 can be made of the positive photoresist, the negative photoresist, photosensitive polyimide (PI), silicon oxide, silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride, or other conventional materials.
Thus, since the isolation layer 280 may be formed with a particular pattern on the first electrode layer 220 by using, for example, the photoresist developing process, the shape of the first electrode layer 220 that is exposed is under control, which in turn effectively provides the light-emitting region P2 with a particular shape.
For example, when the changeover switch 250 is switched such that the changeover switch 250 switches on the first electrical connection portion 230 only, once the power unit 100 applies a voltage to the first electrode layer 220 and the second electrode layer 270 (referring to
As shown in
As shown in
In this way, the organic electroluminescence device 11 of the embodiment may control the changeover switch 250 as required or limited, so as to immediately allow the corresponding organic electroluminescence component 202 to provide the first gradient-brightness surface E1, the second gradient-brightness surface E2, or the uniform-brightness surface E3 for improving the flexibility of the product design.
In this way, by switching the changeover switch 250, the light-emitting region of the left arrow 311 is arbitrarily chosen to generate gradient-brightness surfaces in varying directions, so as to accomplish the display effect and purpose of indicating different directions respectively.
For example, as shown by (A) in
Further, the changeover switch 250 may be continuously switched to alternately display the left arrows 311 of (A) and (B) of
In this manner, since the power unit 100 can independently control the illumination of the organic electroluminescence components 202, all the triangles 420 may be arbitrarily selected to generate gradient-brightness surfaces with different directions of gradation or uniform-brightness surfaces through the control of the changeover switch 250. Thus, the static sun image and the vivid effect of dynamic solar ray flow may be simultaneously displayed to achieve different display effects.
Although the present disclosure has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain embodiments thereof, other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the embodiments contained herein.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present disclosure without departing from the scope or spirit of the present disclosure. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present disclosure cover modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 107106861 A | Mar 2018 | TW | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9655198 | Krummacher | May 2017 | B2 |
