Additive manufactured organic light-emitting diodes

Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) are a promising alternative to conventional anorganic semiconductor devices. Especially in terms of manufacturing, new technologies promise a variety of new opportunities. 3D printing processes are able to deposit functional materials on additive manufactured surfaces with simultaneously low material consumption. Furthermore, this may be implemented in conventional 3D printing to achieve a functional process. With this technology it is for example possible to manufacture a fully additive manufactured illumination system, based on polymer OLEDs. We use solvable functional inks for each semiconductor layer, which are ready to use in inkjet printing systems. Here we present the transfer from commonly used anorganic ITO (indium tin oxide) to an inkjet printed, transparent anode on an additive manufactured resin substrate. In addition, we discuss the 3D printing technologies involved in the manufacturing process as well as the geometrical layer design and contacting methods used. Challenges here by are the surface quality and wetting properties of the substrate surface and each individual layer. We evaluate our results by the electrical and optical characteristics. Additionally we discuss manufacturing parameters and their effect on the device functionality.