Fraunhofer COMEDD collaborated with Orthogonal Inc to develop a new approach for OLED micro-structuring. The new patented technology, called Orthogonal Photolithography allows direct patterning of organic material on CMOS-backplanes.
This technology can enable high-brightness (5000 cd/m2) high-resolution OLED microdisplays. This is because it can be used to create direct-emission OLED microdisplays. All current microdipslays on the market use white OLED subpixels with color filters. Fraunhofer is also developing direct-emission OLED microdisplays using flash-mask-transfer-lithography (FMTL) technology.
The new developed technology takes advantage of the fact that the vast majority of organic materials are either oleophilic or hydrophilic and are hence orthogonal (insolvable and stable) to highly fluorinated chemicals. Therefore, appropriate fluorinated photoresists can be used to pattern organic layers without compromising of performance of the organic device.
Fraunhofer COMEDD established Orthogonal Photolithography in its clean room and incorporated it into 200 mm wafer micro display pilot fabrication line. COMEDD is looking for industrial partners to co-develop the technology further.
