US5478658A
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Article comprising a microcavity light source
Assignee: Agere Systems LLC
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Filing: 1994-05-20
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Granted: 1995-12-26
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Expires: 2014-05-20
Abstract
Abstract Optical microcavities are potentially useful as light emitters for, e.g., flat panel displays. Such microcavities comprise a layer structure, including two spaced apart reflectors that define the cavity, with a layer of organic (electroluminescent) material disposed between the reflectors. We have discovered that a microcavity can simultaneously emit radiation of two or more predetermined colors such that the emission has a desired apparent color, exemplarily white. Emission of two or more colors requires that the effective optical length of the cavity is selected such that the cavity is a multimode cavity, with the wavelengths of two or more of the standing wave modes that are supported by the cavity lying within the emission region of the electroluminescence spectrum of the active material.
Inventors
- 👤 Ananth Dodabalapur
- 👤 Timothy M. Miller
- 👤 Lewis J. Rothberg
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-25 19:41
CPC Classifications
H; H05; H05B; H05B33/00; H05B33/12; H05B33/22; H10; H10K; H10K50/00; H10K50/80; H10K50/85; H10K50/852; H10K59/00; H10K59/80; H10K59/875; H10K59/876; H01; H01S; H01S5/00; H01S5/30; H01S5/36; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S428/00; Y10S428/917
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 22
Claim 1
Independent Claim
151 words
An article comprising a layer structure on a major surface of a substrate body, said layer structure comprising a) spaced apart first and second reflectors defining a microcavity of effective optical length L; b) an active layer that comprises organic material capable of electroluminescence, and having an electroluminescence spectrum including an emission region, with at least a portion of the active layer disposed between said reflector means; and c) electrodes that facilitate flowing a current through the at least portion of the active layer such that the microcavity can be caused to emit radiation; characterized in that d) the effective optical length L is selected such that the microcavity is a multimode cavity that simultaneously supports at least two modes of radiation, each of said modes having a wavelength within said emission region of said electroluminescence spectrum, such that the microcavity can simultaneously emit radiation of at least two predetermined colors.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
151 words
An article comprising a layer structure on a major surface of a substrate body, said layer structure comprising a) spaced apart first and second reflectors defining a microcavity of effective optical length L; b) an active layer that comprises organic material capable of electroluminescence, and having an electroluminescence spectrum including an emission region, with at least a portion of the active layer disposed between said reflector means; and c) electrodes that facilitate flowing a current through the at least portion of the active layer such that the microcavity can be caused to emit radiation; characterized in that d) the effective optical length L is selected such that the microcavity is a multimode cavity that simultaneously supports at least two modes of radiation, each of said modes having a wavelength within said emission region of said electroluminescence spectrum, such that the microcavity can simultaneously emit radiation of at least two predetermined colors.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
33 words
Article according to claim 1, wherein the layer structure further comprises i) an electron transport layer; or ii) a hole transport layer; or iii) a hole transport layer and an electron transport layer.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
17 words
Article according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said reflectors comprises a multilayer dielectric mirror.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
18 words
Article according to claim 1, wherein the layer structure further comprises a filler layer disposed between the reflectors.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
18 words
Article according to claim 1, wherein the layer structure further comprises a scattering layer disposed outside the microcavity.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
30 words
Article according to claim 1, wherein L is selected such that at least one of said two modes is a third order or higher standing wave mode of the microcavity.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
18 words
Article according to claim 1, wherein the article comprises a multiplicity of microcavities of effective optical length L.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
18 words
Article according to claim 7, the article further comprising a multiplicity of microcavities of effective optical length L'≠L.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
21 words
Article according to claim 8, wherein L' is selected such that the microcavities of effective optical length L' are multimode microcavities.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
43 words
Article according to claim 6, wherein associated with the layer structure is a re-combination region, and wherein the layer structure is selected such that at least one of said standing wave modes has a node or an antinode substantially in the re-combination region.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
26 words
Article according to claim 1, wherein the organic material capable of electroluminescence comprises a substantially non-emissive host organic material doped with an emissive organic dopant material.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
9 words
Article according to claim 1, comprising a gold electrode.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
20 words
Article according to claim 1, comprising an electrode comprising a metal selected from Al, In, Mg, Ca, and alloys thereof.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
14 words
Article according to claim 13, wherein said electrode comprises two or more metal layers.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
25 words
Article according to claim 1, wherein the article is a flat panel display, apparatus comprising optical interconnects, optical fiber communication apparatus, or LED printing apparatus.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
18 words
Article according to claim 3, wherein one of said reflectors is a portion of a patterned metal layer.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
17 words
Article according to claim 1, wherein the substrate body comprises a glass body having two major surfaces.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
33 words
Article of claim 17, wherein at least one major surface of the glass body is coated with a coating material having a refractive index higher than the refractive index of the glass body.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
12 words
Article of claim 18, wherein said coating material is TiO 2 .
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
108 words
Article according to claim 16, wherein the organic material capable of electroluminescence is selected from the group consisting of Alq, aromatic hydrocarbons, poly(phenylene vinylenes), oxadiazole or stilbene derivatives, and any of the foregoing doped with a dopant selected from the group consisting of coumarins and 4-(dicyanomethylene)-4H-pyrans; wherein the multilayer dielectric mirror comprises alternating layers of SiO 2 and silicon nitride, or SiO 2 and TiO 2 ; wherein the patterned metal layer comprises material selected from Al, In, Mg, Ca, and alloys thereof; and wherein said electrodes for applying an electric field across said at least portion of the active layer comprise indium tin oxide or doped polyaniline.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
26 words
An article according to claim 1, wherein the layer structure is selected such that said at least two colors provide an apparent color that is white.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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