Reliability and lifetime of flexible organic electronics

In this paper we will define reliability testing for organic thin film flexible photovoltaics. We will give examples of accelerated lifetime testing (ALT) protocols designed to quantify materials with respect to product specification and to meet customer needs. We will show the correlation between various standardized accelerated testing conditions and discuss progress in packaging. We find examples of ALT used in the solar industry and organic light emitting display technology and discuss how those might be structured to address the uniqueness of flexible electronics. With the standard being set by glass, some of the standard ALT might be modified to provide a meaningful evaluation of flex. In conclusion, we will present and discuss some common failure mechanisms, show evidence of degradation within the package and explore how this compromises photovoltaic performance.