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Microlithography of hole transport layers for high-resolution organic light-emitting diodes with reduced electrical crosstalk

Nature Electronics volume 8, pages 66–74 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

High-density displays are required for the development of virtual and augmented reality devices. However, increasing the pixel resolution can lead to higher electrical pixel crosstalk, primarily due to a shared hole transport layer. Here we show that a silicone-integrated small-molecule hole transport layer can be patterned at the wafer scale with microlithography to mitigate electrical pixel crosstalk. This provides high-density pixelation and improved performance of the hole transport layer itself. With this approach, we create high-fidelity micro-pattern arrays with a resolution of up to 10,062 pixels per inch on a six-inch wafer. The silicone-integrated small-molecule hole transport layer can effectively modulate charge balance within the emission layers, improving the luminance characteristics of organic light-emitting diodes. We also show that organic light-emitting diodes integrated with micro-patterned silicone-integrated small-molecule hole transport layers have a reduced electrical pixel crosstalk compared with organic light-emitting diodes with a typical hole transport layer.

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Fig. 1: Molecular concept and ultrahigh-density pixelation of SI-HTL.
Fig. 2: Analysis of molecular structure and etch inhibitor of SI-HTL.
Fig. 3: EL characteristics of OLEDs integrated with SI-HTL.
Fig. 4: Evaluation of electrical pixel crosstalk in OLEDs with micro-patterned SI-HTL.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

D.H.K. acknowledges support from the Basic Science Research Program (2020R1A2C3014237 and RS-2024-00405818) and the Pioneer Research Center Program (2022M3C1A3081211) of the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT, Korea and the Technology Innovation Program (RS-2024-00441743) funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (MOTIE, Korea). M.S.K. acknowledges support from the Basic Science Research Program (2021R1A2C2008332) and the Nano & Material Technology Development Program (RS-2024-00445116) of the NRF funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT, Korea.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Hyukmin Kweon

    Present address: Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

  2. These authors contributed equally: Hyukmin Kweon, Seonkwon Kim, Borina Ha.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Hyukmin Kweon, Borina Ha, Soyeon Lee, Hayoung Oh, Jiyeon Ha & Do Hwan Kim

  2. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Seonkwon Kim, Minsu Kang & Jeong Ho Cho

  3. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Sogang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Seunghan Lee, SeungHwan Roh & Moon Sung Kang

  4. Institute of Emergent Materials, Sogang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Moon Sung Kang

  5. Institute of Nano Science and Technology, Hanyang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Do Hwan Kim

  6. Clean-Energy Research Institute, Hanyang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Do Hwan Kim

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Contributions

M.S.K., J.H.C. and D.H.K. supervised this project. H.K., B.H. and D.H.K. conceived the concept. H.K., S.K. and B.H. designed and carried out the experiments. H.K., B.H., So.L., S.H.R., J.H. and D.H.K. analysed the molecular structure and etching behaviour of SI-HTL. H.K. and B.H. fabricated the high-resolution patterns of SI-HTL. S.K., Se.L., M.K., S.H.R., M.S.K. and J.H.C. evaluated and interpreted the optoelectronic characteristics of SI-HTL and OLEDs. H.K., S.K. and H.O. fabricated and evaluated the pixel crosstalk of patterned SI-HTL-based OLEDs. All authors discussed the results and commented on the paper. H.K., S.K., B.H., M.S.K., J.H.C. and D.H.K. co-wrote the paper.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Moon Sung Kang, Jeong Ho Cho or Do Hwan Kim.

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Competing interests

H.K., S.K., B.H., Se.L., M.S.K., J.H.C. and D.H.K. declare their status as inventors on the granted Korean patent (KR 10-2537611) and have filed the patent application (PCT/KR2023/009730). Additionally, H.K., B.H. and D.H.K. declare their status as inventors on the granted Korean patent (KR 10-2547153) and have filed the patent application (PCT/KR2023/002902). The other authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Electronics thanks Ching-Fuh Lin, Alper Ulku and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary Notes 1–3, Figs. 1–30, Tables 1–3 and references.

Supplementary Video 1 (download MP4 )

Electrical pixel crosstalk phenomenon as a function of SI-HTL pixelation.

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Kweon, H., Kim, S., Ha, B. et al. Microlithography of hole transport layers for high-resolution organic light-emitting diodes with reduced electrical crosstalk. Nat Electron 8, 66–74 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-024-01327-5

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