Claims
- 1. A color organic light-emitting display device having an array of pixels divided into at least two different color pixel sets, each color pixel set emitting a different predetermined color light over a common substrate, wherein each pixel in the array includes:
a metallic bottom-electrode layer disposed over the substrate; a metallic top-electrode layer spaced from the metallic bottom-electrode layer; an organic EL element disposed between the top-electrode layer and the bottom-electrode layer and arranged to produce broadband light; and a transparent conductive phase-layer disposed between the metallic bottom-electrode layer and the organic EL element; wherein the organic EL element is common for all color pixels; wherein the thickness of the transparent conductive phase-layer is separately selected for pixels in different color pixel sets to cause the pixels in different color pixel sets to emit the different predetermined color light; wherein one of the metallic electrode layers is semitransparent and the other one is essentially opaque and reflective; wherein the material for reflective metallic electrode layer includes Ag, Au, Al, or alloys thereof, the material for the semitransparent metallic electrode layer includes Ag, Au, or alloys thereof; and wherein the thickness of the semitransparent metallic electrode layer, the combined thickness of the organic layers and the transparent conductive phase-layer, and the placement of the light-emitting layer are selected so that each pixel in the display forms a tuned microcavity OLED device having an emission output efficiency above that of a comparable OLED device without the microcavity.
- 2. The color organic light-emitting display according to claim 1 wherein both the metallic electrode layers are Ag or alloys thereof and the thickness of the semitransparent electrode layer is between 10 nm and 30 nm.
- 3. The color organic light-emitting display according to claim 1 wherein the bottom-electrode layer is semitransparent and the light is emitted through the substrate.
- 4. The color organic light-emitting display according to claim 3 wherein the device further includes a high index of refraction absorption-reduction layer disposed between the semitransparent bottom-electrode layer and the substrate.
- 5. The color organic light-emitting display according to claim 4 wherein the absorption-reduction layer has an index of refraction greater than 1.6.
- 6. The color organic light-emitting display according to claim 4 wherein the material for the semitransparent electrode further includes Al, Cu, alloys thereof, or MgAg alloys with less than 50% Ag.
- 7. The color organic light-emitting display according to claim 1 wherein the top-electrode layer is semitransparent and the light is emitted through the semitransparent top-electrode layer.
- 8. The color organic light-emitting display according to claim 7 wherein the device further includes a high index of refraction absorption-reduction layer disposed over the semitransparent top-electrode layer.
- 9. The color organic light-emitting display according to claim 8 wherein the absorption-reduction layer has an index of refraction greater than 1.6.
- 10. The color organic light-emitting display according to claim 8 wherein the material for the semitransparent electrode further includes Al, Cu, alloys thereof, or MgAg alloys with less than 50% Ag.
- 11. The color organic light-emitting display according to claim 1 wherein the bottom-electrode layer is the anode and the top-electrode layer is the cathode.
- 12. The color organic light-emitting display according to claim 1 wherein the bottom-electrode layer is the cathode and the top-electrode layer is the anode.
- 13. The color organic light-emitting display according to claim 1 wherein the thickness of at least one of the organic layers other than the light-emitting layer is changed for each color pixel set.
- 14. The color organic light-emitting display according to claim 1 wherein the organic EL element includes a hole transport layer.
- 15. The color organic light-emitting display according to claim 14 wherein the thickness of the hole transport layer is changed for each color pixel set.
- 16. The color organic light-emitting display according to claim 1 wherein the organic EL element includes an electron transport layer.
- 17. The color organic light-emitting display according to claim 16 wherein the thickness of the electron transport layer is changed for each color pixel set.
- 18. The color organic light-emitting display according to claim 1 wherein the organic EL element further includes an electron-injection layer.
- 19. The color organic light-emitting display according to claim 1 wherein the organic EL element further includes a hole-injection layer.
- 20. The color organic light-emitting display of claim 1 that is an active-matrix display.
- 21. The color organic light-emitting display of claim 1 that is a passive matrix display.
- 22. The color organic light-emitting display of claim 1 wherein the organic EL element contains at least small-molecule OLED material.
- 23. The color organic light-emitting display of claim 1 wherein the organic EL element contains at least polymeric OLED material.
- 24. The color organic light-emitting display of claim 1 wherein the organic EL element contains fluorescent OLED material.
- 25. The color organic light-emitting display of claim 1 wherein the organic EL element contains phosphorescent OLED material.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] Reference is made to commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______ filed concurrently herewith, entitled “White Emitting Organic Electroluminescent Device with Color Filters to Improve Efficiency” by Dustin Winters et al, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/346,424 filed Jan. 17, 2003 entitled “Microcavity OLED Devices” by Yuan-Sheng Tyan et al; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/347,013 filed Jan. 17, 2003, entitled “Organic Light-Emitting Diode Display With Improved Light Emission Using Metallic Anode” by Pranab K. Raychaudhuri et al, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/356,271 filed January 31, 2003 entitled “Color OLED Display with Improved Emission” by Yuan-Sheng Tyan et al the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.