Flexible organic light emitting diodes

Flexible displays are those that can be fabricated on plastic substrates, metal flexible foils or even on very thin sheets of glass [1]. The use of these type of substrates assign various characteristics to the displays such as very thin thickness, light weight, and the ability to be bent, flexed, conformed or rolled to a radius of curvature of a few centimeters without losing its functionality [1, 2]. Also, flexible displays can be cut into a variety of shapes allowing greater freedom in product design. Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) are being considered good candidates for a new generation of displays and lighting applications due to properties such as low-power consumption, excellent image quality, fast response time and high brightness [2]. The use of flexible substrates to manufacture displays demand the establishment of new tools and processes due to its lower thermal, mechanical and dimensional stability when compared to rigid substrates. In this contribution, we present the process steps developed to obtain flexible OLEDs. © Copyright 2011 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.