Most present-day semiconductor devices use inorganic crystalline materials, with single-crystalline silicon dominating other materials like GaAs by about a factor of 1000. Despite the advantages of single-crystalline inorganic semiconductors like high room-temperature mobility (up to 1000 cm2/(V s)) and high stability, these materials are less suitable for low-cost and large-area applications. Additionally, silicon is an indirect semiconductor and therefore is not well suited for optoelectronic applications like light-emitting diodes. Solar cells from silicon are expensive and require a large amount of energy for their fabrication, leading to a long energy payback time. As an alternative, organic semiconductors have recently gained much attention (for review articles, see refs 1 -3 (OLEDs), ref 4 (organic electronics in general), and refs 5 and 6 (organic solar cells)). Originally, much of the research concentrated on single crystals, which can have mobilities of a few cm2/(V s) at room temperature and even much higher values at low temperature, as shown in the pioneering work of Karl et al.7 However, for practical applications, thinfilm organic semiconductors with disordered morphology, such as evaporated small-molecule compounds or polymers processed from solution, are prevailing. Organic semiconductors are already broadly applied as photoconductors for copiers and laser printers. * Corresponding author. E-mail: leo@iapp.de. Web address: www.iapp.de. 1233 Chem. Rev. 2007, 107, 1233−1271

Highly efficient organic devices based on electrically doped transport layers.

The present invention provides a heterocyclic compound and an organic light-emitting device including the heterocyclic compound. The organic light-emitting devices using the heterocyclic compounds have high-efficiency, low driving voltage, high luminance and long lifespan.

Organic light-emitting device

White organic light emitting diodes (WOLEDs) are promising devices for application in low energy consumption lighting since they combine the potentialities of high efficiency and inexpensive production with the appealing features of large surfaces emitting good quality white light. However, lifetime, performances and costs still have to be optimized to make WOLEDs commercially competitive as alternative lighting sources. Development of efficient and stable emitters plays a key role in the progress of WOLED technology. This tutorial review discusses the main approaches to obtain white electroluminescence with organic and organometallic emitters. Representative examples of each method are reported highlighting the most significant achievements together with open issues and challenges to be faced by future research.

Electroluminescent materials for white organic light emitting diodes

One of the advantages of organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) over other display technologies is the ability to fabricate them on flexible substrates. As polymer substrates do not offer the same barrier performance as glass, OLEDs on polymer substrates will require thin-film barriers on both the bottom and top side of the device layers for sufficient lifetimes. This article provides a review of permeation-barrier technologies as well as the current status of thin-film permeation barriers for OLEDs. Topics include the implications of various device structures, permeation rate measurement, background and state-of-the-art of barrier technology, and mechanical and optical considerations for effective barriers.

Thin-film permeation-barrier technology for flexible organic light-emitting devices

Efficiency is crucial for organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) to be energy-saving and to have a long lifetime for display and solid state lighting applications. Numerous approaches have been proposed to attain high efficiency OLEDs through the synthesis of novel organic materials, the design of light extraction structures and the design of efficiency-effective device architectures. In this report, we first summarise the efficiency records of OLED devices using fluorescent, phosphorescent, and thermally activated delay fluorescent materials. Importantly, we review all the available efficiency-effective device architectural approaches, which include using thin layer structures, low carrier injection barriers, high carrier mobility, balanced carrier injection, effective carrier confinement, effective host-to-guest energy transfer, effective recombination zone, effective exciton generation on the host, effective exciton confinement, p–i–n structures, and tandem structures. It is hoped that better device structures can therefore be devised upon suitable device engineering to achieve higher efficiency for OLED devices.

Approaches for fabricating high efficiency organic light emitting diodes

Microlens arrays are introduced on glass substrates to improve the out-coupling efficiency of organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs). The microlenses suppress waveguiding loss in the substrate. A theoretical model, based on electromagnetic wave propagation and geometric ray tracing, is developed to simulate the enhancement effects and optimize the structure parameters of the lens pattern. A simple soft-lithography approach is employed to fabricate the microlens array on glass substrates. With the use of an optimized lens pattern, an increase of over 85% in the coupling efficiency of the OLED is expected theoretically. An increase of 70% in the coupling efficiency is achieved experimentally, without detrimental effect to the electrical performance of the OLED.

Coupling efficiency enhancement in organic light-emitting devices using microlens array-theory and experiment

Top-emitting organic light-emitting diodes (TOLEDs) employing highly reflective Ag as anode and semitransparent LiF∕Al∕Ag as cathode were fabricated. The hole injection efficiency of Ag anode can be significantly improved with surface modification using a CF4 plasma. With C545T-doped Alq3 emitter, the top-emitting device shows a low turn-on voltage of 2.65V. The optimized microcavity TOLED shows a current efficiency enhancement of 65% and a total outcoupling efficiency enhancement of 35%, compared with a conventional OLED. No color variation was observed in the forward 140° forward viewing cone. Strong dependence of efficiency on Ag cathode thickness was observed, in good agreement with numerical simulations.

High-efficiency microcavity top-emitting organic light-emitting diodes using silver anode

We have demonstrated an approach to enhance the light extraction efficiency for organic light emitting diode (OLED). Nanoporous alumina film was used to modify the optical wave propagation and coupling of light from the OLED. Experimental results showed an increase of over 50% in the coupling efficiency of the nanoporous device, without affecting the electrical properties of the OLED. Effective medium theory can be used to model the optical properties of the nanoporous media and simulated the optical characteristics of the OLED successfully.

Enhanced Coupling of Light From Organic Light Emitting Diodes Using Nanoporous Films

Recently, polycrystalline silicon (p-Si) has been demonstrated to be an efficient anode for organic light-emitting diode (OLED) [X. L. Zhu, J. X. Sun, H. J. Peng, Z. G. Meng, M. Wong, and H. S. Kwok, Appl. Phys. Lett. 87, 083504 (2005)]. In this letter, we show that, by depositing an ultrathin vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) layer on the p-Si anode, the performance of the OLED can be greatly improved. Detailed x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study shows that strong band bending occurs at the p-Si∕V2O5 interface, leading to much stronger hole injection. This modified p-Si anode can be integrated with the active p-Si layer of thin-film transistors in active-matrix OLED displays.

Vanadium pentoxide modified polycrystalline silicon anode for active-matrix organic light-emitting diodes

Effective intermediate electrode layers comprising of LiF(1nm)∕Ca(25nm)∕Ag(15nm) or LiF(1nm)∕Al(3nm)∕Au(15nm) were studied in stacked organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs). Stacked OLEDs with two identical emissive units consisting of NPB∕Alq3: C545T/BCP exhibited superior luminous efficiency-current density characteristics over conventional single-unit devices. At 20mA∕cm2, the luminous efficiency of the stacked OLEDs using the intermediate layers of LiF∕Ca∕Ag and LiF∕Al∕Au were about 19.6cd∕A and 17.5cd∕A, respectively, almost doubling that of the corresponding control devices, as expected.

Huajun Peng

Papers

Coupling efficiency enhancement in organic light-emitting devices using microlens array-theory and experiment

High-efficiency microcavity top-emitting organic light-emitting diodes using silver anode

Enhanced Coupling of Light From Organic Light Emitting Diodes Using Nanoporous Films

Vanadium pentoxide modified polycrystalline silicon anode for active-matrix organic light-emitting diodes

Effective Intermediate Layers for Highly Efficient Stacked Organic Light-Emitting Devices