Assembling Your EL Lamp

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Assembling Your EL Lamp
This presentation will take you through the steps
to assemble your electroluminescent lamp.

• Cleaning the ITO
• Application of the phosphor layer
• Application of the dielectric layer
• Application of the back electrode
• Testing the completed display

The Luxprint Electroluminescent Inks were donated
by DuPont. (www.mcm.dupont.com)
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Overview of the EL Lamp
ITO (green)
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conductive rear electrode (gray)
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etched electrode isolation bar.
Conductive rear electrode layer connects to
electrode bar (left)does not extend to image
border (right) does not extend to edges of slide
(top bottom)
phosphor (cyan)
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phosphor layer extends to edgeof the isolation
bar (left)to image border (right) to edges of
slide (top bottom)
Copper tape electrodes (brown)
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copper tape connects to the left (rear)
electrode bar andto the right (front) electrode
bar.
dielectric (magenta)
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dielectric layer nearly covers the isolation bar
(left)extends to image border (right) to edges
of slide (top bottom)
The layer thicknesses are greatly exaggerated!
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Cleaning the ITO
First set up the basic mask pattern
Add the bar to separate the front and back
electrodes.
Using the rectangle tool make a rectangle taller
than 1 and one grid unit wide. use the paint
bucket tool to set the fill to white.

• Set up PowerPoint for drawing
• from the draw menu select Grid Guides
• check snap objects to grid
• select grid spacing of 0.063 (1/16)
• check Display grid on screen

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Define the area Use the rectangle tool to draw a
1 square.
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We actually want the bar thinner. Select the bar
and then right click. From the pop-up menu select
format auto shape select the size tab and
adjust the width to 0.03 (You will need to type
this.)
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Make the fill black Select the square and use
the paint bucket
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Designing Your Etch Mask(steps 5-8)
Completing the basic pattern Select the left bar
set the line color (outline) to no
line Select the right bar, set its fill color
to black Group all three objectsselect all three
objects, right click, from the pop-up menu,
select grouping, select group.
Position the bar select the bar and move it 2
grid spaces from the left. The right edge of the
bar should be 2 grid spaces from the left. The
leading edge of the object snaps to the grid, so
the result depends on the direction you are
moving.
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2 grid spaces (1/8)
The area for your pattern. Now you have the basic
pattern created. You can now add patterns
between the left and right bars. For aesthetic
reasons you will want to leave a margin of at
least one grid unit around your pattern.
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We also need to reserve space for the front
electrode. Our design must fit in
between. Duplicate the bar and position the
duplicate 2 grid spaces form the right.
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Area for your pattern
If the two bars do not appear to have the same
width, This could be an artifact of the display.
Zoom the display, at higher magnification they
should appear equal.
2 grid spaces (1/8)
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Designing Your Etch Mask(steps 9-12)
Create a temporary guide It is useful to make a
rectangle to define the pattern area. Add a
rectangle to define your pattern area, shown in
blue. Your will delete this later.
Fixing isolated areas. The pattern we want,
enclose regions of ITO which are not connected to
the front electrode contact. We can easily fix
this by drawing black lines between the outside
and the inside. Use several lines to insure
connection. Some may fail. Use lines at least
1-1/2 pts wide.
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What I have done is easier to see here
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Draw your pattern inside the rectangle. Make sure
it is black white. No gray. Remember the mask
will define where acid will remove ITO
Finalizing your pattern When you are satisfied
with your pattern erase the guide rectangle from
step 9. Group all of the objects. This helps
prevent parts of your mask from accidentally
shifting.
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Designing Your Etch Mask(steps 13-16)
Final check Make sure the bar separating the
front and the back electrode is clear. No part
of your pattern should cross it. Are any parts
of your pattern isolated? If so go to step
11. Because your pattern is only 1 square, you
can put many on one sheet. It is a good idea to
copy our mask pattern several times so that you
have extra.
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Test print you mask on paper You will use a laser
printer to generate your mask by printing onto
transparency film. Because transparency film does
not grow on trees we will first make a test print
on paper. It is best to perform the test print on
the SAME printer you will use for the
transparency.
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PowerPoint wants to print white lines as
black.To print what you see, go to print from
the file menu, at the lower left under print
what select color
Print your mask on transparency film.
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Inspect you Finished Mask If you find defects in
the black image use a Sharpie marker to cover
the unwanted clear areas. When you are
sissified with your mask your are ready for the
photolithography.
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Sample Mask Sheet