ELECTROLUMINESCENCE FROM A SOLUBLE POLY(P-PHENYLENEVINYLENE) DERIVATIVE GENERATED USING A SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPE

A scanning tunneling microscope was used to generate electroluminescen ce (EL) from thin films of the conjugated polymer vinylene-co-2,5-dioc tyloxy-1,4-phenylenevinylene). This allowed the spatial distribution o f EL to be mapped across the film, and also measurements of local EL e mission spectra to be recorded. It was observed that both the emission spectra and their intensity are highly nonuniform on length scales gr eater than or similar to 2 nm. This is important in the context of lig ht emitting diodes since it indicates that control of nanostructure ca n greatly improve device performance. (C) 1997 American Institute of P hysics.