JPH0230154B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to an organic material widely used in backlights of liquid crystal display devices for displaying characters and figures in wristwatches, calculators, various measuring instruments, and portable televisions. The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing type EL.

Conventional technology In general, organic EL has a light-emitting layer sandwiched between a pair of opposing electrodes, at least one of which is transparent.
The EL element with leads led out from each electrode is sandwiched between upper and lower outer skin films of a larger size, and the outer skin films protruding from the EL element are heat-pressed through a laminator with the leads partially sandwiched between them. It has a structure in which the EL element is sealed.

The structure and manufacturing method of such an organic EL will be explained based on FIGS. 2 to 5.

Figure 2 is a plan view of organic type EL1, and Figure 3 is a plan view of organic type EL1.
A sectional view taken along line A-A in the figure is shown.

In Figures 2 and 3, 2 is an EL element, 3,
Reference numeral 4 denotes two resin outer skin films sandwiching and sealing the EL element 2 from above and below. The EL element 2 includes, from the bottom of the drawing, a back electrode 5 made of, for example, Al foil, a reflective insulating layer 6 in which powder of a highly reflective material (barium titanate, etc.) is dispersed in an organic material with a high dielectric constant (cyanoethyl cellulose, etc.), and the above-mentioned. similar organic substances
A light-emitting layer 7 in which phosphor powder such as ZnS:Cu is dispersed, a transparent electrode 8 made of I, T, O, etc.;
A resin sheet 9 made of polyester or the like, which serves as a base material for
It is composed of a laminate of. Note that since the transparent electrode 8 has a resistance value of about Ω/□, when the light emitting area exceeds a certain level, silver paste or the like is applied in a band shape to the transparent electrode 8 to form a current collecting band 8a. From the back electrode 5 and current collecting band 8a [or transparent electrode 8],
One end of each band-shaped lead 10, 11 is electrically and mechanically connected, and both leads 10, 11 are EL.
It is led out from element 2 in parallel to the outside. The two outer skin films 3 and 4 are made by coating the inner surface of a fluorine resin film with good moisture resistance with a low melting point polyethylene resin as an adhesive.
This is one size larger than EL element 2, and the EL
Sandwich element 2 from above and below in a sandwich style, and
The parts protruding from the element 2 are bonded together by thermocompression.

The thermocompression bonding of the outer skin films 3 and 4 is performed in the fourth step.
A pair of heating rollers 1 each having a built-in heater and having an outer periphery made of an elastic material such as rubber, as shown in Figures 1 and 5.
This is done using a laminator 14 consisting of 2 and 13 parts. For example, on one long outer skin film 4, a lead is attached.
A plurality of EL elements 2 are arranged at equal intervals with the tips of their leads 10 and 11 protruding in a direction perpendicular to the outer skin film 4, and the outer skin film 4 and a pair of other long outer skin films 3 are heated. roller 12,
13, and the upper and lower long outer skin films 3, 4 are successively thermocompressed between heating rollers 12, 13 to sequentially seal the plurality of EL elements 2, 2, . . . After that, the integrated upper and lower long outer skin films 3 and 4 are cut to a desired size to obtain EL1 shown in FIG. 2.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention By the way, when cutting the upper and lower elongated outer skin films 3 and 4 that are integrally formed by enclosing a plurality of EL elements 3 at equal intervals in order to divide them into the EL elements 1, the EL elements 2 positioning is very important. Therefore, in the past, at least one of the outer skin films 3 and 4 was transparent, so that the operator could visually check the EL.
Positioning was performed while observing the side edges of element 2. However, visually observing the side edges of the EL elements 2 one by one causes the worker to feel extremely fatigued, resulting in a significant decline in the worker's performance. Therefore, the positioning accuracy is greatly affected, and as a result, there is a disadvantage that the EL1 is manufactured with large variations in shape and size.

Therefore, currently, for example, as shown in Figure 6,
The upper and lower long outer skin films 3 and 4, which are made by enclosing a plurality of EL elements 2 at equal intervals and are integrated, are intermittently fed.
An image sensor 15 such as an ITV camera is placed at a fixed position above the fixed position where the EL elements 2 are sent one by one.
At the same time, a light source 16 such as a halogen lamp is placed below the fixed position.
6 is turned on to irradiate the EL element 2 with a light beam, the imaging element 15 captures an external image of the EL element 2, and the EL element 2 is automatically positioned using this captured external image.

However, in the above method, the boundaries between the EL element 2 and the outer films 3 and 4 may not be clearly distinguished. That is, the EL element 2 is connected to the heating roller 12,
The upper and lower elongated outer films 3 and 4 are sequentially bonded under heat and pressure between the EL elements 13 and 13 to seal the EL element 2. However, since the EL element 2 is thick, the outer films 3 and 4 are placed on both sides of the EL element 2.
4 may not adhere to each other sufficiently, and air bubbles may occur on both sides of the EL element 2 after sealing, and these air bubbles create a sharp contrast between the bright and dark areas at the boundary between the EL element 2 and the outer films 3 and 4. Doesn't appear.
Also, when the light beam is irradiated from one side, the EL element 2 is
In the method of capturing an external image of the external skin film 3,
4 is opaque, for example, the outer skin film 4
In the case of EL1, which uses Al foil, it cannot be applied and has no versatility.

In addition, when manufacturing the above-mentioned EL element 2, predetermined positions are applied to the back electrode 5 and the current collecting band 8a of the laminate of the elongated back electrode 5, the reflective insulating layer 6, the light emitting layer 7, the transparent electrode 8, and the resin sheet 9. Lead 1 at intervals
0 and 11 were manufactured, and it was cut using the current collecting band 8a as a reference. However, with the naked eye or with the image sensor 15, the contrast between the light emitting layer 7 part and the current collecting band 8a part is visible. Because of the low value, it was difficult to clearly distinguish the boundary between the two, and cutting errors were likely to occur.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing an organic EL that solves the above problems.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an EL element in which a light-emitting layer is sandwiched between a pair of opposing electrodes, at least one of which is transparent, and a lead is led out from each electrode. In the production of organic EL, in which the EL element is sealed by sandwiching the outer films of the same size from above and below and thermocompressing the outer films that protrude from the EL element to seal the EL element, the light emitting layer is irradiated with ultraviolet light. A technical measure has been taken to make the material emit light and perform predetermined processing on it.

Function When the light-emitting layer is irradiated with ultraviolet light in this way, the light-emitting layer emits light due to the ultraviolet light, and the contrast between the layer and other parts becomes clearer.

Embodiment FIG. 1 is a drawing showing a specific embodiment of the method for manufacturing an organic EL according to the present invention, and the present invention will be explained below based on this drawing.

In FIG. 1, parts that are the same or corresponding to those in FIG. 6 are given the same reference numerals, and explanations thereof will be omitted. A different feature of the present invention is that an ultraviolet lamp 17 such as a black light is placed above the fixed position, and the ultraviolet lamp 17 is turned on to emit ultraviolet light.
This is to irradiate the element 2.

In this way, the ultraviolet light from the ultraviolet lamp 17 is
When the element 2 is irradiated, the EL element 2 is exposed to ultraviolet light.
Since the light-emitting layer 7 emits light, the contrast between the bright and dark areas at the boundary between the EL element 2 and the outer films 3 and 4 is clear and the distinction is clear. Moreover, there is no problem at all even if Al foil is used for the outer skin film 4.

In addition, the present invention uses a long outer skin film to form a plurality of ELs.
This method can be used not only for EL multiple bodies in which elements are encapsulated, but also for precise cutting of single EL products that have been roughly cut.

The present invention also provides a method for cutting a laminate of a long back electrode 5, a reflective insulating layer 6, a light emitting layer 7, a transparent electrode 8, and a resin sheet 9 with reference to a current collecting band 8a formed on the transparent electrode 8. It can also be carried out when manufacturing the EL element 2. In this case, since the current collecting band 8a is opaque and becomes a non-light-emitting part, the light-emitting layer 7, which is a light-emitting part,
The contrast between the current collecting band 8a, which is a non-light-emitting portion, is sharp, and cutting can be performed easily and accurately using the current collecting band 8a as a reference.

Furthermore, in the present invention, when attaching the lead 11 to the current collecting band 8a, for the same reason as described above, the current collecting band 8a is
Since the position of the lead 11 is clear,
It can be easily and accurately attached to the predetermined position of a.

Effects of the Invention According to the present invention, by irradiating the light-emitting layer with ultraviolet light, the light-emitting layer emits light and the boundary with other parts can be clearly distinguished, allowing highly accurate positioning, and as a result, dimensional accuracy. High organic EL can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view for explaining a specific embodiment of the organic EL manufacturing method according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the organic EL, and FIG. 3 is a A sectional view taken along line A, FIGS. 4 and 5 are a plan view and a side view showing an example of the EL manufacturing apparatus shown in FIG. 2, and FIG. 6 is a schematic side view showing an example of a conventional EL element external shape observation apparatus. It is a diagram. 1... EL, 2... EL element, 3, 4... Outer film, 15... Image pickup element, 17... Ultraviolet lamp.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An EL element in which a light emitting layer is sandwiched between a pair of opposing electrodes, at least one of which is transparent, and leads are led out from each electrode, is sandwiched from above and below between outer skin films having a larger size, In the production of organic EL, in which the EL element is sealed by thermocompression bonding the outer skin films that protrude from the EL element, the luminescent layer is irradiated with ultraviolet light to cause the luminescent layer to emit light and undergo the specified processing. A method for manufacturing an organic EL, characterized by: 2 The predetermined processing is performed on the EL from the EL element multiplex.
The method for manufacturing an organic EL according to claim 1, which comprises cutting the device. 3. The method for manufacturing an organic EL according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined processing is cutting of the outer skin film.