Patterned oxygen and moisture absorber for organic optoelectronic device structures

A method of making an OLED device structure comprising:

• providing a substrate;
• forming an OLED display area over said substrate, said OLED display area comprising a plurality of active pixels that comprise an anode region, a cathode region and a light-emitting region;
• providing a cover over said OLED display area, wherein said cover permits transmission of light from said active pixels to an outer environment, and wherein said cover and said substrate cooperate to restrict transmission of oxygen and water vapor from said outer environment to said OLED display area;
• and
• providing a patterned getter layer between said substrate and said cover, said patterned getter layer being configured so as to substantially avoid obstructing said transmission of light that is permitted by said cover from said pixels to said outer environment, wherein at least a portion of said patterned getter layer is provided between at least some of said plurality of pixels.

A flexible OLED device structure comprising:

• a flexible substrate;
• a flexible OLED display area comprising a plurality of active pixels disposed over said substrate, which comprise an anode region, a cathode region and a light-emitting region;
• a flexible cover over said OLED display area, wherein at least one of said flexible substrate and said flexible cover permits transmission of light from said plurality of active pixels to an outer environment, and wherein said flexible cover and said flexible substrate cooperate to restrict transmission of oxygen and water vapor from said outer environment to said OLED display area;
• and
• a patterned getter layer disposed between said flexible substrate and said flexible cover, wherein said patterned getter layer is configured so as to substantially avoid obstructing said transmission of light from said plurality of active pixels to said outer environment, wherein at least a portion of said patterned getter layer is provided between at least some of said plurality of pixels.

A flexible OLED device structure comprising:

• a flexible substrate;
• a flexible OLED display area comprising a plurality of active pixels disposed over said substrate, each of said plurality of active pixels comprising an anode region, a cathode region and a light-emitting region;
• a flexible cover over said OLED display area, wherein at least one of said flexible substrate and said flexible cover permits transmission of light from said plurality of active pixels to an outer environment, and wherein said flexible cover and said flexible substrate cooperate to restrict transmission of oxygen and water vapor from said outer environment to said OLED display area;
• and
• a patterned getter layer disposed between said flexible substrate and said flexible cover, said patterned getter layer being configured so as to substantially avoid obstructing said transmission of light from said plurality of active pixels to said outer environment, wherein portions of said patterned getter layer are sufficiently narrow to prevent said patterned getter layer from cracking when said OLED device structure is flexed during normal service and wherein said patterned getter layer comprises a plurality of narrow bands of getter material.