Scalable fabrication of high-EQE stretchable OLEDs enabled by residue-controlled laser patterning

With growing interest in free-form displays, stretchable OLEDs have attracted significant attention. Among various approaches, the island–interconnector architecture is widely adopted for its compatibility with well-established materials that ensure high performance and reliability. While laser patterning is considered a simple and scalable approach to the formation of island-interconnectors in micro- to macroscales, the adhesion of laser-generated residues onto the substrate and rough interfaces has prevented its wide adoption in the manufacturing of free-form electronics. In this work, we introduce a sacrificial-layer-assisted laser patterning strategy that enables the lift-off removal of laser-generated residues and realizes a low-roughness substrate, realizing stretchable OLEDs with external quantum efficiency exceeding 30%. The devices sustain 30% stretchability over 1000 cycles and show temporal luminance decay comparable to that of encapsulated glass-based rigid counterparts, illustrating the feasibility of the proposed method as a scalable approach to the facile realization of free-form displays.