At this point, the substrate on which up to the vapor deposition of the electron transport layer 6 had been completed was taken out and set in another vapor deposition apparatus. As a mask for cathode vapor deposition, a striped shadow mask having 2 mm-wide stripes was tightly attached to the substrate in such a manner that the stripes were arranged perpendicular to the ITO stripes of the anode 2, and the inside of the apparatus was evacuated to a degree of vacuum of 2.3×10?4 Pa or lower.
Next, as a cathode 7, aluminum was heated in a molybdenum boat, and an 80 nm-thick aluminum layer was formed in the same manner while controlling the vapor deposition rate in a range of 1.0 to 4.9 ?/sec. During this vapor deposition, the degree of vacuum was 2.6×10?4 Pa.
Subsequently, in order to prevent deterioration of the resulting organic electroluminescent element by the moisture and the like in the atmosphere during storage, a sealing treatment was performed by the following method.
In a nitrogen glove box, a photocurable resin 30Y-437 (manufactured by ThreeBond Holdings Co., Ltd.) was applied to the periphery of a 23 mm×23 mm glass plate at a width of about 1 mm, and a moisture getter sheet (manufactured by Dynic Corporation) was placed on the center of the glass plate. The substrate on which the cathode formation had been completed was pasted thereon such that the vapor-deposited surface faced the desiccant sheet. Thereafter, UV light was irradiated only to the region coated with the photocurable resin so as to cure the resin.