Patent ID: 8657985

Claim:
A method of making organic electronic devices (OEDs) in a roll-to-roll continuous web process, comprising the steps of: providing a roll of flexible substrate with an adhesive-coated liner, wherein the substrate is a continuous web during the process, the adhesive side of the liner is applied to the substrate, and the adhesive is patterned to form an adhesive mask having openings defined by the pattern and the liner has a plurality of openings coinciding with the openings in the pattern of the adhesive mask; moving the substrate along a plurality of rolls, wherein with at least one of the plurality of rolls the liner is against the one roll and the substrate located opposite the one roll and wherein with at least another one of the plurality of rolls the substrate is against the another one roll and the liner located opposite the another one roll; depositing OED elements on the substrate in conjunction with moving the substrate along the plurality of rolls, wherein the OED elements include at least an active organic material, and wherein the OED elements are deposited through the plurality of openings in the liner and through the adhesive mask; removing the liner from the substrate using one of the plurality of rolls feeding the liner to a first take-up roll while leaving a remaining portion of the adhesive mask on the substrate around each of the deposited OED elements at a location of each of the plurality of openings; applying a sealing layer over the adhesive mask on the substrate and adhering the sealing layer by passing the substrate with the sealing layer between a pair of the plurality of rolls located on opposite sides of the substrate, wherein after adhering the sealing layer the remaining portion of the adhesive mask forms an edge seal completely surrounding each of the deposited OED elements between the sealing layer and the substrate at a location of each of the plurality of openings; and collecting the substrate with the edge-sealed OED elements and the sealing layer on a second take-up roll, wherein each of the edge-sealed OED elements comprises an OED capable of independent operation after the substrate is singulated to separate the edge-sealed OED elements.