Near‐Infrared (NIR) Organic Light‐Emitting Diodes (OLEDs): Challenges and Opportunities

The rapid development of the science and technology of organic semiconductors has already led to mass application of organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) in television monitors of outstanding quality as well as in a large variety of smaller displays found in smartphones, tablets, and other gadgets, while introduction of the technology to the illumination sector is imminent. Notably, the requirements of all such applications for emission in the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum are well tuned to the optical and electronic properties of typical organic semiconductors, thereby representing relatively “low‐hanging fruits,” in terms of material development and exploitation. However, the question arises as to whether developing materials suited for efficient near‐infrared (NIR, 700–1000 nm) emission is possible, and, crucially, desirable to enable new classes of applications spanning from through‐space, short‐range communications to biomedical sensors, night vision, and more generally security applications to name but a few. Here, the major fundamental hurdles to be overcome to achieve efficient NIR emission from organic π‐conjugated systems are discussed, recent progress is reviewed, and an outlook for further development of both materials and applications is provided.     

Thickness dependent barrier performance of permeation barriers made from atomic layer deposited alumina for organic devices

Organic devices like organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) or organic solar cells degrade fast when exposed to ambient air. Hence, thin-films acting as permeation barriers are needed for their protection. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is known to be one of the best technologies to reach barriers with a low defect density at gentle process conditions. As well, ALD is reported to be one of the thinnest barrier layers, with a critical thickness – defining a continuous barrier film – as low as 5–10 nm for ALD processed Al₂O₃. In this work, we investigate the barrier performance of Al₂O₃ films processed by ALD at 80 °C with trimethylaluminum and ozone as precursors. The coverage of defects in such films is investigated on a 5 nm thick Al₂O₃ film, i.e. below the critical thickness, on calcium using atomic force microscopy (AFM). We find for this sub-critical thickness regime that all spots giving raise to water ingress on the 20 × 20 μm² scan range are positioned on nearly flat surface sites without the presence of particles or large substrate features. Hence below the critical thickness, ALD leaves open or at least weakly covered spots even on feature-free surface sites. The thickness dependent performance of these barrier films is investigated for thicknesses ranging from 15 to 100 nm, i.e. above the assumed critical film thickness of this system. To measure the barrier performance, electrical calcium corrosion tests are used in order to measure the water vapor transmission rate (WVTR), electrodeposition is used in order to decorate and count defects, and dark spot growth on OLEDs is used in order to confirm the results for real devices. For 15–25 nm barrier thickness, we observe an exponential decrease in defect density with barrier thickness which explains the likewise observed exponential decrease in WVTR and OLED degradation rate. Above 25 nm, a further increase in barrier thickness leads to a further exponential decrease in defect density, but an only sub-exponential decrease in WVTR and OLED degradation rate. In conclusion, the performance of the thin Al₂O₃ permeation barrier is dominated by its defect density. This defect density is reduced exponentially with increasing barrier thickness for alumina thicknesses of up to at least 25 nm.     

Effect of Heat Treatment on Luminescent Properties of White Organic Light Emitting Device

The white organic light emitting device (OLED) with single-structure using a polymer blend as the light emitting layer is fabricated. Heat treatment is used to control the ratio between the intensities of main electroluminescent spectral peaks. The electroluminescent spectrum of our device is quite similar to that of white inorganic LED produced by Nichia Corporation after being annealed, and its turn-on voltage can be decreased by 1V.     

Zn(BTZ)2白色有机电致发光材料的合成及其器件制备

以PCl₃为脱水剂,将邻氨基硫酚与水杨酸脱水环化合成出2-(2-羟基苯基)苯并噻唑,并进一步将所得产物与乙酸锌反应合成出2-(2-羟基苯基)苯并噻唑螯合锌(Zn(BTZ)₂)材料。以该配合物作为发光层制备出结构为ITO/PVK:TPD/Zn(BTZ)₂/Al近白色电致发光器件,其色坐标位于白场之内(x=0.242,y=0.359),在驱动电压为16V时,亮度达3200cdm²,对应的量子效率为0.32%。进一步在Zn(BTZ)₂中掺入橙红色染料Rubrene,制成ITO/PVK:TPD/Zn(BTZ)₂:Rubrene/Al结构器件,实现了纯白色发光(色坐标值:x=0.324,y=0.343),非常接近于白色等能点,且量子效率达0.47%。最后对上述器件的发光和电学性能进行了深入的研究和探讨。     

有机发光显示的几项新技术

有机发光显示(OLED)作为下一代显示器倍受关注。本文简要介绍OLED显示器的几项新技术和制作方法，以及其研究现状和今后的发展趋势。     

一种96×64彩色OLED显示驱动电路的设计

OLED是一种新型平板显示器件,文章设计了一种应用于96×64彩色PM-OLED的显示驱动芯片。该芯片能实现256级对比度调节和65k色彩显示。芯片为高压、大电流的数模混合电路,内部包括数字控制电路,片内SRAM,片内振荡器,DC-DC升压电路,行驱动电路,高压基准电流源电路,以及电流精确可调的列驱动电路。该芯片是一种电流驱动型电路,列驱动电路采用PAM方式实现灰度调制,以及大电流预充的方式对PM-OLED屏幕像素进行预充。全芯片已通过Nanosim仿真,并进行了部分测试。仿真和测试结果验证了设计的正确性。     

有机薄膜器件负电阻特性的影响因素

研究了影响有机染料掺杂聚合物薄膜器件负电阻特性的因素，为探索有机负电阻的机理提供实验依据。实验中制备了多种有机染料掺杂聚合物薄膜器件，研究了有机小分子染料、聚合物基体、薄膜组成及厚度、ITO和聚苯胺阳极等对有机染料掺杂聚合物薄膜器件负电阻特性的影响。在室温、大气环境下，所制备的多种有机染料掺杂聚合物器件在所加电压为3～4V时，观察到明显的负电阻特性，电流峰谷比最大约为8。负电阻现象及峰谷比的大小受膜厚和器件的结构、制备工艺等影响。提出用负电阻和二极管并联组成的等效电路模型解释影响负电阻特性的因素，认为负电阻特性与载流子的不平衡注入有关。在此基础上设计、合成了主链含唔二唑电子传输基团的可溶性聚对苯撑乙烯衍生物，该聚合物兼具空穴和电子传输功能，在空气中具有较稳定的N型负电阻特性。进一步控制相关材料和工艺条件，有可能得到易于控制的负阻效应，开发出新型的有机负电阻器件。     

采用热处理方法提高MEH-PPV单层聚合物有机发光二极管发光性能的研究

对以MEH－PPV为发光层的单层聚合物有机发光二极管（OLED）器件在最佳条件下进行真空热处理，并用金相显微镜观察施加电压后器件的阴极表面形貌。发现处理后的器件阴极表面的气泡及黑斑明显减少。器件的发光性能显著提高。与未经处理的器件相比，最大相对发光强度提高了一个数量级、启亮电压降低了2．0V，半寿命提高了12．7倍。初步分析表明热处理方法提高器件发光性能的主要原因在于有效地减少了器件在工作过程中由于焦耳热产生的某些气体，从而减少阴极表面气泡及黑斑的出现，另一方面，热处理方法也增强了有机发光层与阴极接触界面的结合力，提高电子注入水平。     

驱动AM-OLED的2-a-Si:H TFT的设计与制作

a-Si：H／SiNx：H TFT在长时间栅偏应力作用下，会产生阈值电压漂移，这主要是由绝缘层电荷注入和有源层亚稳态产生而引起的。针对电荷注入现象，文章首先通过控制源气体SiH4和NH3流量的不同，利用PECVD制作了不同N／Si比（0．87～1．68）的氮化硅绝缘材料，对其进行了椭偏、红外和光电子散射能谱（EDS）测试。制作了不同的MIS结构电容，对其进行老化实验和C-V测试分析，结果表明稍富氮（N／Si比稍大于标准Si3N4的化学计量比1．33）的氮化硅做成的M1S样品在老化前后C-V曲线偏移不是很明显，表明其缺陷态密度相对较小，能够有效减小半导体／绝缘层界面间的电荷注入。设计了驱动OLED的2-a-Si：H TFT像素电路及其阵列版图，优化了电路中的几个关键参数，即T1的W／L=2．5、T2的W／L=25和存储电容Cs=0．8pF。运用7PEP生产工艺，制作了13cm（5．2in）的TFT阵列样品。对TFT进行I-V特性测试，其开态电流为10μA，开关比为10^6；对AMOLED显示屏样品进行了静态驱动下的亮度测试，其最高亮度为341cd／m^2。     

Dependence of Performance of Organic Light-emitting Devices on Sheet Resistance of Indium-tin-oxide Anodes

IntroductionIndium-tin-oxide(ITO) has been widely used asthe anode material in organic light-emitting devices(OLEDs) because of its high transmittance in the visi-ble region and low electrical resistivity. In the pastyears, many investigations focused on …