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Nano Research 2020, 13(9): 2485-2491 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-2883-9
Research Article | Issue | Published: 25 June 2020

High-resolution, full-color quantum dot light-emitting diode display fabricated via photolithography approach

Show Author's Information Wenhai Mei1,§,  Zhenqi Zhang1,§,  Aidi Zhang1,  Dong Li1,  Xiaoyuan Zhang1,  Haowei Wang1,  Zhuo Chen1( ),  Yanzhao Li1( ),  Xinguo Li1,2( ),  Xiaoguang Xu1( )
BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd., Beijing 100176, China
School of Software & Microelectronics Department, Peking University, Beijing 102600, China

§ Wenhai Mei and Zhenqi Zhang contributed equally to this work.

Keywords:
quantum dots, quantum dot light-emitting diodes, photolithography, high-resolution, sacrificial layer assisted patterning
Topics:
FabricationNanocrystalsOrganic lasersQuantum dot lasers Semiconductor quantum dots
Cite this article:
Mei W, Zhang Z, Zhang A, et al. High-resolution, full-color quantum dot light-emitting diode display fabricated via photolithography approach. Nano Research, 2020, 13(9): 2485-2491. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-2883-9
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Displays play an extremely important role in modern information society, which creates a never-ending demand for the new and better products and technologies. The latest requirements for novel display technologies focus on high resolution and high color gamut. Among emerging technologies that include organic light-emitting diode (OLED), micro light-emitting diode (micro-LED), quantum dot light-emitting diode (QLED), laser display, holographic display and others, QLED is promising owing to its intrinsic high color gamut and the possibility to achieve high resolution with photolithography approach. However, previously demonstrated photolithography techniques suffer from reduced device performance and color impurities in subpixels from the process. In this study, we demonstrated a sacrificial layer assisted patterning (SLAP) approach, which can be applied in conjunction with photolithography to fabricate high-resolution, full-color quantum dot (QD) patterns. In this approach, the negative photoresist (PR) and sacrificial layer (SL) were utilized to determine the pixels for QD deposition, while at the same time the SL helps protect the QD layer and keep it intact (named PR-SL approach). To prove this method’s viability for QLED display manufacture, a 500-ppi, full-color passive matrix (PM)-QLED prototype was fabricated via this process. Results show that there were no color impurities in the subpixels, and the PM-QLED has a high color gamut of 114% National Television Standards Committee (NTSC). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first full-color QLED prototype with such a high resolution. We anticipate that this innovative patterning technique will open a new horizon for future display technologies and may lead to a disruptive and innovative change in display industry.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

High-resolution, full-color quantum dot light-emitting diode display fabricated via photolithography approach

Show Author's information Wenhai Mei1,§, Zhenqi Zhang1,§, Aidi Zhang1, Dong Li1, Xiaoyuan Zhang1, Haowei Wang1, Zhuo Chen1( ), Yanzhao Li1( ), Xinguo Li1,2( ), Xiaoguang Xu1( )
BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd., Beijing 100176, China
School of Software & Microelectronics Department, Peking University, Beijing 102600, China

§ Wenhai Mei and Zhenqi Zhang contributed equally to this work.

Abstract

Displays play an extremely important role in modern information society, which creates a never-ending demand for the new and better products and technologies. The latest requirements for novel display technologies focus on high resolution and high color gamut. Among emerging technologies that include organic light-emitting diode (OLED), micro light-emitting diode (micro-LED), quantum dot light-emitting diode (QLED), laser display, holographic display and others, QLED is promising owing to its intrinsic high color gamut and the possibility to achieve high resolution with photolithography approach. However, previously demonstrated photolithography techniques suffer from reduced device performance and color impurities in subpixels from the process. In this study, we demonstrated a sacrificial layer assisted patterning (SLAP) approach, which can be applied in conjunction with photolithography to fabricate high-resolution, full-color quantum dot (QD) patterns. In this approach, the negative photoresist (PR) and sacrificial layer (SL) were utilized to determine the pixels for QD deposition, while at the same time the SL helps protect the QD layer and keep it intact (named PR-SL approach). To prove this method’s viability for QLED display manufacture, a 500-ppi, full-color passive matrix (PM)-QLED prototype was fabricated via this process. Results show that there were no color impurities in the subpixels, and the PM-QLED has a high color gamut of 114% National Television Standards Committee (NTSC). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first full-color QLED prototype with such a high resolution. We anticipate that this innovative patterning technique will open a new horizon for future display technologies and may lead to a disruptive and innovative change in display industry.

Keywords: quantum dots, quantum dot light-emitting diodes, photolithography, high-resolution, sacrificial layer assisted patterning

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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 03 March 2020
Revised: 15 May 2020
Accepted: 17 May 2020
Published: 25 June 2020
Issue date: September 2020

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2016YFB0401700).

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