초록
We have investigated the feasibility of fabricating fine stripes using needle coating for potential applications in solution-processed organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). To this end, we have employed an aqueous poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(4-styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) solution that has been widely used as a hole injection layer (HIL) of OLEDs and performed needle coatings by varying the process parameters such as the coating gap and coating speed. As expected, the stripe width is reduced with increasing coating speed. However, the central thickness of the stripe is rather increased as the coating speed increases, which is different from other coating processes such as slot-die and blade coatings. It is due to the fact that the meniscus formed between the needle tip and the substrate varies depending sensitively on the coating speed. It is also found that the stripe width and thickness are reduced with increasing coating gap. To demonstrate its applicability to OLEDs, we have fabricated a red OLED stripe and obtained light emission with the width of about 90㎛.
