Blocking of interfacial diffusion at Ag/Alq3 by LiF

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy has been applied to interface studies of Ag/tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq₃) and Ag/LiF/Alq₃. For Ag/Alq₃, diffusion of Ag atoms into the Alq₃ layer occurs immediately after the adhesion of the metal onto the organic layer and the process lasts several hours. Insertion of a monolayer-thick LiF buffer at the interface can effectively block the diffusion process. This is quite different from what is observed from Al/LiF/Alq₃, where Al penetrates into the LiF layer as deep as several nanometers. It is thus concluded that the LiF buffer may play different roles in Ag/LiF/Alq₃ and Al/LiF/Alq₃ and hence different mechanisms may dominate in the two cases for the enhanced carrier injection observed.     

利用空间电荷限制电流方法确定三(8-羟基喹啉)铝的电子迁移率特性初步研究

材料的迁移率是其关键电学特性之一.有机材料迁移率的研究对于有机电致发光器件、 有机太阳电池、有机薄膜场效应晶体管性能的提高有重要的意义. 应用简单易行的空间电荷限制电流方法,对基于三(8-羟基喹啉)铝(Alq₃) 的四种单载流子器件电流密度-电压曲线特性进行研究, 根据空间电荷限制电流模型,拟合出Alq₃材料在四种器件中的零场电子迁移率和电场依赖因子,并且给出Alq₃电子迁移率随外加偏压的变化趋势. 实验结果表明,顶电极铝蒸镀到缓冲层氟化锂(1 nm)和Alq₃ (100 nm)的表面后, 可以明显改善Alq₃的零场迁移率和电场依赖因子. 认为产生这种现象的原因是氟化锂可以使铝和Alq₃发生络合反应, 形成Li⁺¹Alq^-1粒子,形成良好的欧姆接触,使得电子的注入效率大大提高.     

Indium tin oxide surface treatments for improvement of organic light-emitting diode performance

We have systematically investigated the influence of UV ozone and acid (HCl) treatments (separate and combined) of the surface of indium tin oxide (ITO) on the ITO parameters and the performance of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) fabricated on the treated substrates. The ITO substrates were characterized by Hall measurements, Seebeck coefficient measurements and surface-probe microscopy. After ITO characterization, two types of devices (ITO/NPB/rubrene/Alq₃/LiF/Al and ITO/TPD/rubrene/Alq₃/LiF/Al) were fabricated on the differently treated substrates. It was found that in both cases the optimal treatment was HCl followed by UV ozone, which resulted in the lowest turn-on voltage and the highest luminous efficiency. The maximum luminous efficiency in the ITO/NPB/rubrene/Alq₃/LiF/Al OLED with HCl followed by UV ozone treatment was 2.15 lm/W compared to 1.46 lm/W with UV ozone treatment only. PACS 81.65Cf; 85.60.Jb     

Enhanced electron injection in organic light-emitting devices using Al/LiF electrodes

The temperature dependence of the current-voltage-luminescence characteristics in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with varying thickness of LiF layers are studied to understand the mechanism of the enhanced electron injection by inserting a thin insulating LiF layer at the tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq₃)–Al interfaces. At room temperature, the LiF/Al cathode enhances the electron injection and the quantum efficiency (QE) of the electroluminescence (EL), implying that the LiF thin layer lowers the electron-injection barrier. However, at low temperatures it is observed that the injection-limited current dominates and the barrier height for the electron injection in the device with LiF/Al appears to be similar with the Al only device. Thus, our results suggest that at low temperatures the insertion of LiF does not cause a significant band bending of Alq₃ or reduction of the Al work function.     

Isophorone derivative as red dopant for organic electroluminescent devices

The donor–acceptor functionalized molecule, bis(4-(2-(3,3-dicyanomethylene-5,5-dimethyl-1-cyclohexylidene)vinyl)phenyl)(1-naphthyl)amine (DPN-4CN), with symmetrical structure, was investigated for its application in optoelectronic devices. Red organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) were fabricated by doping DPN-4CN in tris(8-hydroxyquinolino) aluminum (Alq₃) as red emitters, with a structure of ITO/NPB/Alq₃:DPN-4CN/BCP/Alq₃/LiF/Al. The device with a doping concentration of 2.5 wt% showed pure red emission with λ_max at 654 nm and CIE coordinates of (0.62, 0.36), a high brightness of 5080 cd m⁻² at a driving voltage of 12 V, a current efficiency of 2.14 cd A⁻¹ and an external quantum efficiency of 1.07% at a current density of 20 mA cm⁻². The current efficiencies and CIE coordinates of the device were almost constant over a current density from 1 to 200 mA cm⁻².     

室温下磁场对基于Alq3的有机电致发光器件的影响

制备了ITO/NPB/LiF/Alq₃/LiF/Al的器件,测量了该组器件效率和亮度的磁效应.结果表明,在50 mT磁场中,当LiF缓冲层厚度为0.8 nm时,器件的效率最大增加了12.4%,磁致亮度最大变化率17%.同时,制备的磷光器件ITO/NPB/LiF/CBP:6 wt% Ir(ppy)₃/BCP/Alq₃/ LiF/Al,在50mT磁场作用下,当LiF缓冲层的厚度为0.8 nm时,器件的效率最大增加12.1%.在Alq_{3 关键词： 有机发光 磁场 效率 磁致亮度}     

Temperature-dependent electrical properties of organic light-emitting diodes depending on cathodes

We have studied temperature-dependent electrical properties of organic light-emitting diodes with a variation of cathode materials; Al, LiAl, and LiF/Al. The organic light-emitting diodes emit a light by a recombination of injected charge carriers such as holes and electrons. Thus, the charge transport is affected by the injection barrier at the interface. By varying the cathode materials, the electron injection at the interface could be controlled because of the work-function change at the cathode. Temperature-dependent current–voltage luminance characteristics of the organic light-emitting diodes were measured in the temperature range from 10 to 300 K. The current-voltage characteristics were analyzed in terms of Fowler–Nordheim tunneling model, and the energy-barrier height was obtained. A measured lifetime of device with LiF/Al cathode is relatively longer than the other cathodes at room temperature: 4.5 h for Al cathode, 12.4 h for LiAl, and 29.6 h for LiF/Al. The device with LiAl and LiF/Al cathode, in the aspect of lifetime and luminous efficiency, is superior to one of other cathodes.     

Efficient organic light-emitting diodes with zinc acetate as an effective electron injection layer

We report on the fabrication of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) using a zinc acetate ((CH₃COO)₂Zn) layer as the cathode buffer layer. The results show that the device containing a (CH₃COO)₂Zn interlayer shows improved luminance and efficiency due to the Zn–N bond formation resulting in the occurrence of Alq₃ anion and also due to the band bending at the Alq₃/Al interface, which is beneficial to electron injection by lowering electron injection barrier. And the devices with structured cathodes (CH₃COO)₂Zn/LiF/Al and LiF/(CH₃COO)₂Zn/Al have a higher luminance and efficiency than the LiF/Al cathode-based device.     

Deep‐level characterization of emissive interface states in Alq3‐based OLEDs

We have succesfully investigated emissive interface states in fabricated indium‐tin‐oxide (ITO)/N,N′‐di‐1‐naphthyl‐N,N′‐diphenyl‐1,1′‐biphenyl‐4,4′diamine (α‐NPD)/tris(8‐hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq₃)/LiF/Al organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) by a modified deep‐level optical spectroscopy (DLOS) technique. In the vicinity of the α‐NPD/Alq₃ emissive interface, a discrete trap level was found to be located at ～1.77 eV below the conduction band of Alq₃, in addition to band‐to‐band transitions of carriers from α‐NPD to Alq₃. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Investigation of an efficient YbF3/Al cathode for tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum-based small molecular organic light-emitting diodes

Efficient tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum (Alq₃)-based organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) using YbF₃ as the electron injection layer have been investigated. With an YbF₃ (3.0 nm)/Al cathode, the device with Alq₃ as the emitting layer achieved a better performance than the control device with a LiF (0.5 nm)/Al cathode. The release of the low-work-function metal Yb is responsible for the performance enhancement. From the analysis by atomic force spectroscopy and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, it is observed that the Alq₃-cathode interface could be well covered by YbF₃ at an optimum thickness of 3.0 nm, which helps to prevent the contact between Alq₃ and Al, and to reduce the destruction of Alq₃ by Al.     

Pure red emission of dye-doped organic molecules from microcavity organic light emitting diode

Organic red emitting diode was fabricated by using 4-dicyanomethylene-2-methyl-6-[2-(2,3,6,7-tetrahydro-1 H,5H-benzo[ij]quinolizin-8-yl)vinyl]-4H-pyran (DCM)-doped tri-(8-quinolitolato) aluminum (Alq₃) as emitter with the structure of G/ITO/NPB(25 nm)/DCM:Alq₃(55 nm)/Alq₃(20 nm)/LiF (1.2 nm)/Al(84 nm), (glass/indium–tin-oxide/4,4-bis-[N-(1-naphthyl)-N-phenyl-amino]biphenyl, G/ITO/NPB), the wavelength of the maximal emission of which is 615 nm. By introducing cavity to Organic light emitting diode (OLED), we got pure red emitting diode with wavelength of the maximal emission of 621 nm and full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of 27 nm. As far as we know, it is the best result in the dye-doped organic red emitting diode. We also made a device of G/ITO/NPB(25 nm)/DCM:Alq₃(29 nm)/DCM:PBD(26 nm)/Alq₃(20 nm)/LiF(1.2 nm)/Al(84 nm), in order to compare the performance of Alq₃ with that of 2-(4-biphenylyl)-5-(4-t-butylphenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (PBD) as host material. It was found that the performance of device A is better than that of C both in brightness and color purity,as well as in EL efficiency.     

Hydrogen sensitive gas sensor based on porous silicon/TiO2−x structure

Porous silicon (PS) layer was formed by electrochemical anodization on a p-type Si surface. Thereafter, n-type TiO_2−x thin film was deposited onto the PS surface by electron-beam evaporation. Pt catalytic layer and Au electrical contacts for further measurements were deposited onto the PS/TiO_2−x structure by ion-beam sputtering. Current–voltage characteristic, sensitivity to different concentration of hydrogen and resistance change of obtained structures versus time were examined. Results of measurements have shown that the current–voltage characteristics of structures are similar to that of diode. High sensitivity to hydrogen of obtained structures was also detected. Note that all measurements were carried out at room temperature.     

A comparative study of electrode effects on the electrical and luminescent characteristics of Alq3/TPD OLED: Improvements due to conductive polymer (PEDOT) anode

The performance of organic light emitting device (OLED) structures, based on identically fabricated Alq₃/TPD active regions, with various anode and cathode electrode structures are compared, and performance differences related to the different anode structure. The best performance was achieved with a conductive polymer, 3,4-polyethylenedioxythiopene-polystyrenesultonate (PEDOT), used as an anode layer, yielding a brightness of 1720 cd/m² at 25 V, a turn-on voltage of 3 V, and electroluminescence (EL) efficiency and external quantum efficiency of 8.2 cd/A and 2%, respectively, at a brightness of 100 cd/m² and 5 V. Compared to a baseline device (TPD/Alq₃/Al), PEDOT anodes substantially reduce the turn-on voltage and made current injection almost linear after turn-on, whiles devices incorporating a LiF and CuPc layers significantly improved device efficiency while slightly improving turn-on voltage and maintaining superlinear I-V injection. This is attributed to the reduced barrier at the organic-organic interface in PEDOT, the ‘ladder’ effect of stepping the band offset over several interfaces, and the favorable PEDOT film morphology. The benefit of the PEDOT anode is clearly seen in the improvement in device brightness and the high external quantum efficiency obtained.     

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.     

基于一种新型有机金属配合物的量子阱结构有机电致白光器件的性能研究

利用一种新型有机金属配合物二(2-(4-三氟甲基-2-羟基苯基)苯并噻唑锌(Zn(4-TfmBTZ)₂),基于NPB/Zn(4-TfmBTZ)₂界面电致激基复合物,制备了一系列异质结量子阱结构有机电致白光器件.结果表明,量子阱结构可以有效提高界面电致激基复合物的发光效率以及器件的显色指数和色度稳定性.得出器件ITO/NPB (60 nm)/Zn(4-TfmBTZ)₂(3.0 nm)/NPB (4.0 nm)/Zn(4-TfmBTZ)_{关键词： 二(2-(4-三氟甲基-2-羟基苯基)苯并噻唑锌 电致激基复合物 量子阱 白光}     

Enhancing properties of organic light-emitting diodes with LiF inside the hole transport layer

A new device has been made by inserting thin LiF layer in N,N′-diphenyl-N,N′-bis(1-napthyl–phenyl)-1, 1′-biphenyl-4,4′-diamine (NPB), which has a configuration of ITO/NPB(20 nm)/LiF(0.5 nm)/NPB(20 nm)/Alq₃(60 nm)/LiF(0.5 nm)/Al. Compared with normal device, the device inserted LiF layer inside NPB (HTL) can improve its performance. The luminance and efficiency is about 1.4 and 1.3 folds high of the conventional structure, respectively. The suggestion mechanism is that the LiF in the NPB layer can block holes of NPB, and balance the holes and electrons. Consequently, there are more excitons formed to boost the diode’s luminance and efficiency. And it may offer some valuable references for OLED’s structure.     

Resistance-switching properties of La<Subscript>0.67</Subscript>Ca<Subscript>0.33</Subscript>MnO<Subscript>3</Subscript> thin films with Ag–Al alloy top electrodes

A novel Ag–Al alloy electrode has been prepared on the La_0.67Ca_0.33MnO₃ (LCMO) film grown by pulsed laser deposition, with the aim to improve its resistance-switching properties. Nonlinear, asymmetric, and hysteretic current–voltage characteristics and reversible polarity-dependent switching properties are achieved in the Ag–Al alloy/LCMO/Pt structure. Detailed current–voltage characteristics analysis indicates that the resistance-switching behavior can be well explained by the mechanism of trap-controlled space charge limited conduction at the Ag–Al alloy/LCMO interface. The LCMO film with an Ag–Al alloy top electrode exhibits much better resistance-switching properties than that with an Al top electrode, including the shorter switching time and more stable switching process, demonstrating that the Ag–Al alloy electrode is a promising electrode materials of manganite films for resistance random access memory applications.     

High-efficiency Simple Structure White Organic Light-emitting Devices Based on Rubrene Ultrathin Layer

White organic light-emitting devices (WOLEDs) were fabricated with an ultrathin layer of rubrene inserted between NPB and TPBI. With a simple three-layer structure of ITO/NPB(50 nm)/rubrene(0.1 nm)/TPBI(50 nm)/LiF/Al, a white light with CIE coordinates of (0.31, 0.30) were generated. The device gave a maximum luminance efficiency of 2.04 lm/W at 5 V. Furthermore, with a multilayer structure of ITO/m-MTDATA(30 nm)/NPB(20 nm)/rubrene(0.1 nm)/TPBI(40 nm)/Alq₃(10 nm)/LiF/Al, the device reached a maximum luminance efficiency of 4.29 lm/W at 4 V and the luminance could exceed 10 000 cd/m² at 10 V.     

Electrical bistability of CdS nanoparticles sandwiched between aluminum tris (8-hydroxyquinoline) layers

We report the electrical bistability of cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanoparticles (NPs) capped by dodecanethiol, which are sandwiched between aluminum tris (8-hydroxyquinoline) (Alq₃) layers. The current density–voltage (J–V) characteristics of the device with Al/Alq₃/CdS NPs/Alq₃/Al structures show the high- and low-conducting state at the same voltage, and the two states are reproducible by applying different negative sweeping voltages. The Ohmic model and the space–charge limited model are proposed and supported by the current density–voltage results, which give a possible transport mechanism for the electrical bistability of our devices.     

Optimized Performances of Thick Film Organic Lighting-Emitting Diodes

The performance of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with thick film is optimized. The alternative vanadium oxide (V₂O₅) and N,N'-di(naphthalene-1-yl)-N,N'-diphenyl-benzidine (NPB) layers are used to enhance holes in the emissive region, and 4,7-dipheny-1,10-phenanthroline (Bphen) doped 8-tris-hydroxyquinoline aluminium (Alq₃) is used to enhance electrons in the emissive region, thus ITO/V₂O₅ (8nm)/NPB (52nm)/V₂O₅ (8nm)/NPB (52nm)/Alq₃ (30 and 45nm)/Alq₃:Bphen (30wt%, 30 and 45nm)/LiF (1nm)/Al (120nm) devices are fabricated. The thick-film devices show the turn-on voltage of about 3V and the maximal power efficiency of 4.5lm/W, which is 1.46 times higher than the conventional thin-film OLEDs.