ENCAPSULATION FOR AN ELECTRONIC THIN FILM DEVICE

摘要

The present invention relates to an encapsulation for an electronic thin film device, comprising a first barrier layer (108), a second barrier layer (112), and a first planarization layer (110') for reducing the formation of pinholes in a subsequent barrier layer, said first planarization layer (110') arranged between the first barrier layer (108) and the second barrier layer (112), wherein the first planarization layer (110') is composed of a first plurality of planarization segment (114) having areas formed between each other, and the encapsulation further comprises a second planarization layer (116) arranged between the second barrier layer (112) and a third barrier layer (120), wherein the second planarization layer (116) is composed of a second plurality of planarization segments (118) arranged to extend over the areas between the first plurality of planarization segments (114), thereby further reducing the number of pinholes providing passageways through the encapsulation. According to the invention, by arranging the barrier layers and the planarization layers in a horizontal multi-layer encapsulation stack, where planarization segments in each of the layers are essentially decoupled from each other and in practice non-interconnecting with each other, it is possible to limit the lateral transportation of water and oxygen through the planarization layer. Instead, if water/oxygen enters the top barrier layer, and eventually a planarization segment, it is contained in the "sphere" of a planarization segment, having a minimized possibility of entering a pinhole in a subsequent barrier layer. The present invention also relates to corresponding method for the formation of an encapsulation for an electronic thin film device.