Encapsulation of organic devices

Abstract

A method for encapsulating devices, in particular organic devices such as OLED-devices, comprising the steps of depositing organic active material on an active region of a substrate; providing a cap to enclose said organic active material within a space defined by a cap periphery adapted to adhere to the substrate; applying a thermally curable bonding material to said cap periphery or to regions of the substrate adapted to adhere to said cap periphery; mounting said cap onto the substrate so that said bonding material is between said cap periphery and the substrate; and curing the bonding material with electromagnetic radiation in the near infrared range to encapsulate the device. Furthermore, a corresponding batch process is disclosed.

1 . A method for encapsulating a device comprising the steps of: 
 depositing organic active material on an active region of a substrate;    providing a cap to enclose said organic active material within a space defined by a cap periphery adapted to adhere to the substrate;    applying a thermally curable bonding material to said cap periphery or to regions of the substrate adapted to adhere to said cap periphery;    mounting said cap onto the substrate so that said bonding material is between said cap periphery and the substrate; and    curing the bonding material with electromagnetic radiation in the near infrared range to encapsulate the device.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the bonding material is selected from the group consisting of epoxy adhesive, adhesive foils and solder glass.  
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 providing a shadow mask to protect the active material against the near infrared electromagnetic radiation.    
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the curing step comprises: 
 focusing the near infrared radiation to be locally applied in the regions where the bonding material is applied.    
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the focusing step comprises: 
 focusing the near infrared electromagnetic radiation in at least one line with a width of 1 to 2 mm.    
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the active region comprises OLED cells (organic light emitting cells).  
   
   
       7 . A method for encapsulating devices in a batch process comprising the steps of: 
 depositing organic active material on a plurality of active regions of a substrate;    providing a plurality of caps for said plurality of active regions to enclose said organic active material within a space respectively defined by each cap periphery adapted to adhere to the substrate;    applying a thermally curable bonding material to each said cap periphery or to regions of the substrate adapted to adhere to each said cap periphery such that said bonding material defines rectangular areas each containing one said active region, wherein said rectangular areas form a grid in such a way that the bonding material is arranged in parallel vertical lines and parallel horizontal lines;    mounting said plurality of caps onto the substrate so that said bonding material is between each said cap periphery and the substrate; and    curing said bonding material with electromagnetic radiation in the near infrared range focused in at least one line and applied sequentially across the substrate to encapsulate the devices.    
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the bonding material is selected from the group consisting of epoxy adhesive, adhesive foils and solder glass.  
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising: 
 providing a shadow mask to protect the active material against the near infrared electromagnetic radiation.    
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the curing step comprises: 
 focusing the near infrared radiation to be locally applied in the regions where the bonding material is applied.    
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the focusing step comprises: 
 focusing the near infrared electromagnetic radiation in at least one line with a width of 1 to 2 mm.    
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein each of said plurality of active regions comprises OLED cells (organic light emitting cells).  
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the step of providing said plurality of caps comprises: 
 providing a cap substrate and forming said plurality of caps in said cap substrate.