Apple patents OLED display design that cuts layers to stop light bleed
Apple describes a method for building OLED screens where a physical barrier is placed between pixels to stop electrical leakage. This barrier features specific stepped cuts, or undercuts, that break the continuous layers of the display. By interrupting these layers, the design aims to reduce unwanted current flow between neighboring pixels.
In the filing’s own words
An organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display may have an array of organic light-emitting diode pixels that each have OLED layers interposed between a cathode and an anode. Voltage may be applied to the anode of each pixel to control the magnitude of emitted light. The conductivity of the OLED layers may allow leakage current to pass between neighboring anodes in the display. To reduce leakage current and the accompanying cross-talk in a display, a cutting structure may disrupt continuity of the OLED layers. The cutting structure may have two undercuts to disrupt continuity of at least some of the OLED layers. The cutting structure may include a conductive portion that provides a cathode voltage to a cathode layer for the OLED pixels.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A display comprising: a substrate; an array of pixels that includes first and second organic light-emitting diode pixels, wherein the first organic light-emitting diode pixel includes a first patterned electrode on the substrate and wherein the second organic light-emitting diode pixel includes a second patterned electrode on the substrate; a cutting structure on the substrate that is interposed between the first and second patterned electrodes, wherein the cutting structure has first and second opposing sides, wherein the first side of the cutting structure comprises first and second undercuts, and wherein the cutting structure comprises: a first layer; a second layer between the first layer and the substrate; a third layer between the second layer and the substrate; and a fourth layer between the third layer and the substrate, wherein the first undercut has a first height defined by a first distance between a lower surface of the third layer and an upper surface of the substrate; and a conductive layer formed over the cutting structure that has a first portion that forms part of the first organic light-emitting diode pixel and a second portion, wherein the first and second undercuts cause at least one discontinuity between the first portion and the second portion.
Facts
- Company
- Apple (Apple Inc.)
- Official title
- Organic light-emitting diode display with pixel definition layers
- Patent number
- US12733348B2
- Application number
- 18476904
- Filed
- Sep 28, 2023
- Granted
- Sep 8, 2026
- Inventors
- 19
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
H10K 59/122 Electricity & electronicsH10K 50/19 Electricity & electronicsMore from Apple in AR, VR & displays
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.