Charge carrier injection and transport in polymer blend films

The steady current-voltage characteristics of single layer organic devices based on MEH-PPV and N,N′-diphenyl-N,N′-bis(4′-[N,N-bis(naphth-1-yl)-amino]-biphenyl-4-yl)-benzidine (TPTE) blend with different TPTE concentrations was investigated. The thickness dependence of the current-voltage relationship clearly demonstrates that the current at low voltage and at high voltage are all space charge limited. The current density-electric field characteristic proves the blend polymer LEDs to operate in the tunneling-controlled model. The effective hole mobility is directly determined by space charge limited current at high voltage and increases with increasing TPTE content in the blend. The EL efficiency shows concentration dependence, which is attributed to the change of the transport of holes in the blend film.     

Investigation of charge carrier mobility in 5,6,11,12-tetraphenylnapthacene (rubrene) and coumarin 6 doped Alq3 films

The doping effect on charge carrier mobility in tris (8-hydroxyquinolinato) aluminum (Alq₃) was studied by time-of-flight (TOF) measurements. The polar dopant, coumarin 6 (C-6) and extensive π conjugated dopant, 5,6,11,12-tetraphenylnaphthacene (rubrene) were used for this study. The co-doped of rubrene (Rb) with C-6 into Alq₃ improved the carrier mobility compared to the single doped Alq₃:C-6 film. The carrier mobility in single doped Alq₃:C-6 film did not follow the linear relationship of Poole-Frenkel (PF) model with applied electric field. The mobility was in agreement with the PF model at two different ranges of electric fields (F) separated by a critical field . The mobility in co-doped Alq₃:(Rb:C-6) film followed the linear relationship with the PF model. The energetic disorder was found as ∼0.32 eV in co-doped films. It was ∼0.55 and ∼0.27 eV before and after the critical field in Alq₃:C-6 film. The values of positional disorders in co-doped films were estimated as ∼1.8 and it was ∼2 in Alq₃:C-6 film at . The organic light emitting diode performance of the co-doped film was improved compared to single doped film. The luminescence efficiency was improved tremendously to ∼6  Cd/A in co-doped device at 45 mA/cm² current compared to Alq₃:C-6 film device of ∼1  Cd/A.     

Efficient red organic light-emitting diode sensitized by a phosphorescent Ir compound

The efficiencies of red organic light-emitting diode (OLED) using tris-(8-hydroxy-quinoline)aluminum (Alq₃) as host and 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-t-butyl-6-(1,1,7,7-tetramethyljulolidyl-9-enyl)-4H-pyran (DCJTB) as dopant were greatly increased by adding a small amount (0.3 wt%) of Ir compound, iridium(III) bis(3-(2-benzothiazolyl)-7-(diethylamino)-2H-1-benzopyran-2-onato-N′,C⁴) (acetyl acetonate) (Ir(C6)₂(acac)), as a sensitizer. The device has a sandwiched structure of indium tin oxide (ITO)/4,4′,4″-tris(N-(2-naphthyl)-N-phenyl-amino)triphenylamine (T-NATA) (40 nm)/N,N′-bis(1-naphthyl)-N,N′-diphenyl-1,1′-biphenyl-4,4′ diamine (NPB) (40 nm)/Alq₃:DCJTB (0.7 wt%):Ir(C6)₂(acac) (0.3 wt%) (40 nm)/Alq₃ (40 nm)/LiF (1 nm)/Al (120 nm). It can be seen that the current efficiencies of this device remained almost (13.8±1) cd/A from 0.1 to 20,000 cd/m² and the Commission International d’Eclairage (CIE) coordinates at (0.60, 0.37) in the range of wide brightness. The significant improvement was attributed to the sensitization effect of the doped Ir(C6)₂(acac), thus the energy of singlet and triplet excitons is simultaneously transferred to the DCJTB.     

Effect of polar dopant on energetic and positional disorders in tris(8-hydroxyquinolinato) aluminum (Alq3)

The influence of polar dopant on the charge carrier transport in amorphous tris (8-hydroxyquinolinato) aluminum (Alq₃) was studied by time-of-flight measurement. The 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-methyl-6-(p-dimethylaminostyryl)-4H-pyran (DCM) was doped into Alq₃ with various concentration from 0.5 to 24 wt. %. The electron mobility was reduced by about one order by DCM doping in Alq₃. The electric-field dependence electron mobility in Alq₃:DCM films separated into two discrete regions of critical fields E_c ^1/2. The value of E_c ^1/2ranged from 360 to 405 (V/cm)^1/2 depending on the DCM concentration in Alq₃ films. The energetic disorder in Alq₃:DCM films increased from 0.01 eV to 0.09 eV with DCM doping concentration. The positional disorder in Alq₃:DCM films also increased from 0.3 to 6.5 with DCM doping concentration up to 24 wt. %. These results indicated the strong Coulombic and dipole–dipole interactions between DCM and Alq₃ molecules. The interactions between randomly located DCM molecules, Alq₃ dipoles and oriented dipoles are the major caused of positional disorder. PACS 73.50.-h; 73.61.Ph; 71.20.Rv     

Photoluminescence and electroluminescence of a novel green-yellow emitting material-5,6-Bis-[4-(naphthalene-1-yl-phenyl-amino)-phenyl]-pyrazine-2,3-dicarbonitrile

A new compound with intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) property—5,6-Bis-[4-(naphthalene-1-yl-phenyl-amino)-phenyl]-pyrazine-2,3-dicarbonitrile(BNPPDC) was synthesized. The new compound was strongly fluorescent in non-polar and moderately polar solvents, as well as in thin solid film. The absorption and emission maxima shifted to longer wavelength with increasing solvent polarity. The fluorescence quantum yield also increased with increasing solvent polarity from non-polar to moderately polar solvents, then decreased with further increase of solvent polarity. This indicates both “positive” and “negative” solvatokinetic effects co-existed. Using this material as hole-transporting emitter and host emitter, we fabricated two electroluminescent (EL) devices with structures of A (ITO/BNPPDC (45 nm)/1,3,5-tris(N-phenylbenzimidazol-2-yl)benzene (TPBI) (45 nm)/Mg:Ag (200 nm) and B (ITO/N,N′-diphenyl-N,N′-bis-(3-methylphenyl) (1,1′-diphenyl)4,4′-diamine (TPD) (50 nm)/BNPPDC (20 nm)/1,3,5-tris(N-phenylbenzimidazol-2-yl)benzene (TPBI) (45 nm)/Mg:Ag (200 nm). The devices showed green-yellow EL emission with good efficiency and high brightness. For example, the device A exhibited a high brightness of 17400 cd/m² at a driving voltage of 11 V and a very low turn-on voltage (2.9 V), as well as a maximum luminous efficiency 3.61 cd/A. The device B showed a similar performance with a high brightness of 12650 cd/m² at a driving voltage of 13 V and a maximum luminous efficiency 3.62 cd/A. In addition, the EL devices using BNPPDC as a host and 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-t-butyl-6-(1,1,7,7-tetramethyljulolidyl-9-enyl)-4H-pyran (DCJTB) as a dopant (configuration: ITO/TPD (60 nm)/BNPPDC:DCJTB (2%) (30 nm)/TPBI (35 nm)/Mg:Ag (200 nm)) showed a good performance with a brightness of 150 cd/m² at 4.5 V, a maximum brightness of 12600 cd/m² at 11.5 V, and a maximum luminous efficiency of 3.30 cd/A.     

Exciplex or electroplex emissions from the interface between aromatic diamine and 2,9-dimethyl-4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline?

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have been fabricated which consist of N,N′-diphenyl-N,N′-bis(3-methylphenyl)-1,1′-biphenyl-4,4′-diamine) (TPD), 2,9-dimethyl-4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline (BCP), and tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq₃). Four emission peaks located at about 401 nm, 425 nm, 452 nm and 480 nm have been obtained in the electroluminescence (EL) spectra of these devices. The former two emissions originate from the exciton emission of TPD molecular. The last two emissions could be attributed to local (LOC) exiplex emission and charge transfer (CT) exiplex emission at the interface between TPD and BCP layers, respectively.     

Metal-insulator transition induced by the magnetic field in n-type GaSb

The metal-insulator (MI) transition induced by a magnetic field was evidenced for the first time in compensated n-type GaSb layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The free electron densities were in the low 10¹⁶ cm⁻³ range or even slightly lower, so that the zero-field 3D electron gas was degenerate and, at the B_MI magnetic field of the MI transition, it populates only the spin-split 0⁽⁺⁾ Landau level (extreme quantum limit). On the metallic side of the MI transition a T^1/3 dependence of the conductivity was assumed to fit the low-T data and to estimate the B_MI value, which resulted of 9.1 T in the purest sample. The MI transition manifests in a strong increase of the diagonal resistivity with the magnetic field, but not of the Hall coefficient, suggesting that the apparent electron density is practically constant, whereas the mobility varies strongly. The evidence of a maximum in the temperature dependence of the Hall coefficient has been explained through a two channels transport mechanism involving localized and extended states.     

Solution-processed white organic light-emitting devices based on small-molecule materials

We investigated solution-processed films of 4,4′-bis(2,2-diphenylvinyl)-1,1′-bibenyl (DPVBi) and its blends with N,N′-bis(3-methylphenyl)-(1,1′-biphenyl)-4,4′-diamine (TPD) by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The AFM result shows that the solution-processed films are pin-free and their morphology is smooth enough to be used in OLEDs. We have developed a solution-processed white organic light-emitting device (WOLEDs) based on small-molecules, in which the light-emitting layer (EML) was formed by spin-coating the solution of small-molecules on top of the solution-processed hole-transporting layer. This WOLEDs, in which the EML consists of co-host (DPVBi and TPD), the blue dopant (4,4′-bis[2-(4-(N,N-diphenylamino)phenyl)vinyl]biphenyl) and the yellow dye (5,6,11,12-tetraphenylnaphtacene), has a current efficiency of 6.0 cd/A at a practical luminance of 1000 cd/m², a maximum luminance of 22500 cd/m², and its color coordinates are quite stable. Our research shows a possible approach to achieve efficient and low-cost small-molecule-based WOLEDs, which avoids the complexities of the co-evaporation process of multiple dopants and host materials in vacuum depositions.     

Electrical properties and Schottky diodes using N-N′diphenyl-1-4phenylenediamine

Thin films of, N-N′diphenyl 1-4phenylene-diamineane are prepared using vacuum sublimation technique. The electrical conductivity from room temperature down to 127 K is studied. It is found that the conduction of charge carriers obeys T^−1/2 dependence on temperature. The average hopping distance, hopping energy, density of states and their variation due to post-deposition heat treatment are studied. Schottky diodes are fabricated with gold as ohmic contact and aluminium as Schottky contact. From the observed current voltage characteristics the saturation current density, diode ideality factor and the barrier height are determined. Their variation with air annealing is also investigated.     

Influence of the deposition temperature on the structure and performance of tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum based flexible organic light-emitting devices

Based on indium tin oxide (ITO)/N,N′diphenyl-N-N′-di(m-tdyl) benzidine (TPD)/Alq₃/Al structure, flexible OLEDs on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates were fabricated by physical vapor deposition (PVD) method. Tris(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum (Alq₃) films were deposited at 90, 120 and 150 °C to examine the influence of the deposition temperature on the structure and performance of OLEDs. Electroluminescence (EL) spectra and current-voltage-luminance (I-V-L) characteristics of the OLEDs were examined. It was found that the device fabricated at a high temperature had a higher external efficiency and longer lifetime. Atomic force microscope (AFM) was adopted to characterize the surface morphology of ITO/TPD/Alq₃. The higher uniform morphology of the Alq₃ formed at high temperature might contribute to the performance improvement of the OLEDs.     

The roles of zinc selenide sandwiched between organic layers and its applications in white light-emitting diodes

In this paper, the roles of zinc selenide (ZnSe) sandwiched between organic layers, i.e. organic/ZnSe/aluminum quinoline (Alq₃), have been studied by varying device structure. A broad band emission was observed from ITO/poly(N-vinylcarbazole)(PVK)(80 nm)/ZnSe(120 nm)/ Alq₃(15 nm)/Al under electric fields and it combined the emissions from the bulk of PVK, ZnSe and Alq₃, however, emission from only Alq₃ was observed from trilayer device ITO/N,N^′-bis-(1-naphthyl)-N,N^′-diphenyl-1, 1^′-biphenyl-4, 4^′-diamine (NPB) (40 nm)/ZnSe(120 nm)/ Alq₃(15 nm)/Al. Consequently the luminescence mechanism in the ZnSe layer is suggested to be charge carrier injection and recombination. By thermal co-evaporating Alq₃ and 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-t-butyl-6-(1,1,7,7-tetramethyljulolidyl-9-enyl)-4H-pyran (DCJTB), we get white light emission with a Commission Internationale de l’E clairage (C.I.E) co-ordinates of (0.32, 0.38) from device ITO/PVK(80 nm)/ZnSe(120 nm)/ Alq₃:DCJTB(0.5 wt% DCJTB)(15 nm)/Al at 15 V and the device performs stably with increasing applied voltages.     

Modification of anode surface in organic light-emitting diodes by chalcogenes

Influence of thin chalcogen X (S, Se, Te) interlayer between anode (indium-tin oxide, ITO) and a layer of N,N′-bis(3-methylphenyl)-N,N′-diphenylbenzidine (TPD) used as a hole-transport layer (HTL) on the operating characteristics of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) of composition ITO/X/TPD/Alq₃/Yb (Alq₃ - aluminum 8-quinolinolate) has been investigated. It was found that the sulphur layer decreases operating voltage and enhances operating stability of a device while the selenium or tellurium interlayers impair these characteristics.     

Low field magneto-transport in LBSMO–PMMA composite

The low field magneto-transport has been measured as a function of temperature in the range 77–300 K and magnetic field; H?3.6 kOe for La_0.7Ba_0.2Sr_0.1MnO₃ (LBSMO)–x wt% PMMA composites where x=0, 2, 6 and 10. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) study reveals that no structural modification has occurred in the LBSMO in the composite. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) investigation shows PMMA getting dispersed through the sample volume and some LBSMO grains appear to be coated with the polymer. The metal-like transition observed at ∼150 K in the virgin LBSMO sample disappears in the composite samples and the resistance shows an increase of about three orders of magnitude as the polymer concentration is increased to 10 wt%. Despite this huge increase in the resistance, the low field magneto-resistance (LFMR) shows an enhancement although smaller than the values commonly observed for other manganite-polymer composite systems. Spin polarized tunneling that causes LFMR seems to be enhanced in the composites.     

Electrical conductivity of 4-tricyanovinyl-N,N-diethylaniline

Physical characterizations of 4-tricyanovinyl-N,N-diethylaniline, TCVA, have been reported. The differential scanning calorimetry measurements of TCVA showed that this compound is stable up to 423 K. The temperature dependence of electrical conductivity, in the temperature range from 298 to 403 K, was studied on pellet samples of TCVA with evaporated ohmic Au electrodes. The electrical conductivity was found to be 7.01×10⁻⁹ Ω⁻¹ cm⁻¹ at room temperature. The temperature dependence of the electrical conductivity is typical for semiconducting compounds. The current density-voltage (J-V) characteristics of TCVA pellet samples have been investigated at different temperatures. In low-voltage region, the conduction current obeys Ohm's law while the charge transport phenomenon appears to be space-charge-limited current in the higher voltage regions.     

Dimensional crossover of quantum interference effects in thin quasicrystalline Al-Cu-Fe films

We present a study of the electrical transport properties of thin i-Al-Cu-Fe films. We observe clear signatures of a dimensional crossover in the temperature and magnetic field dependence of the conductivity for films thinner that ≃ 10³?. In particular for the thinnest sample the magnetoconductivity is strongly anisotropic, as is expected for the weak localisation contribution in two dimensions. These experiments show direct qualitative manifestations of the disorder induced quantum interference effects occurring in quasicrystals. Estimates of the electronic microscopic parameters are in accordance with those obtained in bulk samples. Their values and significance are discussed. Received 16 February 2001 and Received in final form 20 June 2001     

Impedance study of polymethyl methacrylate composites/multi-walled carbon nanotubes (PMMA/MWCNTs)

The dielectric behavior of polymethyl methacrylate/multi-walled carbon nanocomposites (PMMA/MWCNTs) was investigated using impedance spectroscopy technique. The composites were prepared using melt mixing with MWCNTs loading ranging from 0.01 to 10 wt%. The experimental results showed that the measured impedance reflects the insulating behavior of the host material (PMMA) with no appreciable effects of the filler less than 8.5 wt%. However, for the sample containing 10 wt%, the calculated value of dc conductivity increases with increasing temperature from 2.0×10⁻⁶ (Ω m)⁻¹ to attain a value of 4.8×10⁻⁶ (Ω m)⁻¹ at 110 °C. The percolation threshold derived from the dielectric data was estimated to be higher than 8.5 wt% and lower than 10 wt%. A temperature dependent electrical relaxation phenomenon was only observed in the sample containing 10 wt% of MWCNTs. The frequency dependence of the ac conductivity data followed a power law.     

Improved performance and stability by an Al/Ni bilayer cathode in organic light-emitting diodes

Al/Ni bilayer cathode was used to improve the electroluminescent (EL) efficiency and stability in N,N′-bis(1-naphthyl)-N,N′-diphenyl-1,1′ biphenyl 4,4′-dimaine (NPB)/tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq₃)-based organic light-emitting diodes. The device with LiF/Al/Ni cathode achieved a maximum power efficiency of 2.8 lm/W at current density of 1.2 mA/cm², which is 1.4 times the efficiency of device with the state-of-the-art LiF/Al cathode. Importantly, the device stability was significantly enhanced due to the utilization of LiF/Al/Ni cathode. The lifetime at 30% decay in luminance for LiF/Al/Ni cathode was extrapolated to 400 h at an initial luminance of 100 cd/m², which is 10 times better than the LiF/Al cathode.     

Giant magnetoresistance in Co–Al2O3 granular films prepared by self-organized growth

Co–Al₂O₃ granular films with a narrow distribution in cluster size of Co clusters embedded in Al₂O₃ matrix were prepared by sequential deposition based on self-organized growth. Resistivity dependence of giant magnetoresistance (GMR) was studied. The GMR takes a maximum of 5.2% at room temperature and 9.4% at 13 K and 5700 Gs when the resistivity of the sample is 4×10⁵–7×10⁵ μΩ cm. The temperature dependence of resistivities and GMR were discussed especially. A temperature dependence of conductance ρ∼exp[T₁/(T+T₀)] was found, which indicates the dominant conduction mechanism is fluctuation-induced tunneling. A linear relationship of GMR versus T was observed, GMR=a–kT, in applied magnetic field 5700 Gs. The remarkable character of temperature dependence of GMR should be due to the special microstructure that the clusters are monodispersed in the films.     

Structure and high pressure behaviour of organic crystals based on aromatically substituted 1,3,4-oxadiazoles

The crystalline structure of a new compound containing the 1,3,4-oxadiazole moiety, 4-(5-methyl-1,3,4-oxadiazole-2yl-)-N,N′-dimethyl-phenylamine (MODPA) was determined. It shows a monoclinic structure with space group P2₁/c and lattice parameters: a=1.02997(6), b=0.64840(4), c=1.58117(10) nm and β=99.4820(10)°. To study the intermolecular interactions in oxadiazole containing organic crystals, X-ray studies on MODPA and 2,5-diphenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazole (DPO) were performed up to 5 GPa at room temperature. The Murnaghan equation of state is used to describe the compression behaviour of both substances. From these results, the bulk modulus and its pressure derivative were determined. The values obtained are: K₀=6.3 GPa and K′₀=6.8 for MODPA and K₀=7.3 GPa and K′₀=6.7 for DPO. Additionally, measurements under increasing temperature at ambient pressure were carried out to evaluate the thermal expansion coefficient: α=1.8×10⁻⁴ K⁻¹ for MODPA and α=1.9×10⁻⁴ K⁻¹ for DPO.