Heat transfer property of thin-film encapsulation for OLEDs

We investigate the heat transfer property of thin-film encapsulation (TFE) for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). It is demonstrated that the TFE combined with a flexible heat sink shows better thermal performance, compared with the epoxy-filled glass encapsulation and the conventional glass encapsulation. By way of experiments and simulations, we verify that the multi-heterojunction configuration and the low thermal conductivity of the polymer layer in the TFE film have no impact on the thermal performance. Furthermore, we find through simulations that a significant temperature gradient appears inside the TFE layers only when the thermal conductivity of the polymer is lower than 1 × 10−3 W/m K. This enables us to perform design optimization of the TFE configuration with relaxed heat dissipation.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slideResearch highlights► We investigate the heat transfer property of thin-film encapsulation (TFE) for OLEDs. ► The TFE structure combined with a flexible heat sink shows the best thermal performance. ► The multi-heterojunction configuration and the low thermal conductivity of the polymer layer in the TFE film have no impact on the thermal performance.