The Ossila OLED/OPV fabrication system

Ossila supplies a range of components specifically designed to fit together and provide a simple fabrication procedure for organic photovoltaics (OPVs) and organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). Our designs are the result of years of academic research and are an excellent starting point for high performance laboratory-scale devices.

At the core of this system are the pre-patterned ITO-covered glass substrates which are specially manufactured in a commercial LCD fabrication plant. By using high quality ITO from the flat panel display industry and a customised protective coating we ensure that our substrates are not only capable of high performance but also of high consistency. We use a standardised substrate size of 20 mm x 15 mm and provide a suite of processing equipment and all the consumables required to make finished devices. We also share knowhow via our support section.

Our standard OPV/OLED substrate consists of six ITO fingers and a cathode connection strip. When combined with our cathode deposition mask, this provides six pixels of 1.5 mm by 3 mm as defined by the overlap of the ITO anode (1.5 mm) and the cathode (3 mm).

The substrates are suitable for variety of deposition techniques including spin-coating, spray-coating, thermal evaporation, ink-jet printing, doctor blading and Langmuir-Blodgett. They have also been used with a variety of material systems including small molecules, polymers and quantum dots. In short, they provide a versatile platform for a variety of research purposes.

While device fabrication can vary widely depending on the application, we have outlined below a generic fabrication routine for basic polymer-based OPVs or OLEDs. For more detailed instructions please see our fabrication guide and video.

ITO

Strip resist

Ossila's substrates are covered in protective photoresist to ensure that the ITO remains in perfect condition. The protective resist can be stripped with a simple sodium hydroxide etch to reveal a pristine and hydrophilic ITO surface. Each substrate has six individual pixels and a cathode connection strip.

PEDOT

Deposit hole transport layer

Deposit the hole transport layer (for example PEDOT:PSS) and then wipe free the cathode strip afterwards.

Blend

Deposit active layer

Deposit the active layer on top of the hole transport layer and again wipe the cathode clean. At this point either an OPV or and OLED can be fabricated simply by using different solutions.

Cathode

Deposit cathode

Use an Ossila cathode mask to deposit the cathode strips by thermal evaporation or other techniques. These connect the the device pixels to the ITO cathode strip which are used to make an electrical connection.

Encapsulation

Encapsulate

With Ossila's encapsulation system, devices can be stored for extended durations with minimum degradation in performance. This is ideal for testing devices under ambient conditions. Simply place a drop of Ossilas UV-cured encapsulation epoxy on the device and place the glass coverslip on top before curing in a light box.

Legs

Add connection legs

By adding connection legs with a standard 0.1" (2.54 mm) pitch, devices can be inserted into most prototyping boards allowing electrical connection to the six individual pixels.

Measure

In most cases, device measurements are done through the ITO-covered glass. We also provide aperture masks which fit over the substrates and have six electrochemically-etched holes above the pixels for more accurate definition of the active area - ideal for OPV measurements in solar simulators.