Mechanical modeling of flexible OLED devices

General expressions are deduced for the stresses developed in the individual thin layers of a multi-layer structure as a result of bending to a specified radius. These are appropriate for analysing flexible organic light emitting diode (FOLED) devices on flexible substrates. Residual stress (caused internally by temperature change and differential thermal expansion) after material deposition and return to ambient temperatures is not considered. The reduced elastic modulus of the typical small molecule OILED materials: N,N'-bis(naphthalen-1-yl)-N,N'-bis(phenyl)benzidine (NPD) and tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum (Alq(3)) are measured as thin-films using nano-indentation techniques. A conventional device: polyethylene terephthalate (PET)/Buffer layer (BL)/ITO/OLED/Al is considered from a modeling standpoint, as a preliminary to actual fabrication and subsequent comparative testing of OLED performance on rigid and flexible supports. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.