Sfj. Appleyard et al., Organic electroluminescent devices: enhanced carrier injection using SAM derivatized ITO electrodes, J MAT CHEM, 10(1), 2000, pp. 169-173
Taking as a device model ITO\TPD\Alq(3)\Al (where TPD is N,N'-bis(3-methylp
henyl)-N,N'-diphenyl-1,1'-biphenyl-4,4'-diamine and Alq(3) is tris(quinolin
-8-olato)aluminium) it is shown that control and improvement of carrier inj
ection may be achieved using self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) to manipulate
the Schottky energy barrier at the ITO-TPD interface. By using polar adsor
bate molecules with the dipole oriented outward from the surface an artific
ial dipolar layer is formed and the work function is increased, and vice ve
rsa. With this method the threshold voltage for light emission (turn-on) ca
n be reduced by 4 V and the maximum luminance increased by a factor of 3.5,
giving an overall performance superior to that using the more stable Ag/Mg
counter electrode. The SAMs effect is confirmed using a Scanning Kelvin Pr
obe (SKP) to profile the relative work function of half-coated ITO samples.
Increases in work function in excess of 0.3 eV are observed, in line with
predictions using the calculated molecular dipoles of the SAM molecules.