Polysilane light-emitting diodes

This paper discusses the material factors which have led to a recent breakt hrough in polysilane light-emitting diodes (LEDs) made from a diaryl polysi lane, poly[bis(p-n-butylphenyl)silane] (PBPS), by comparing them with LEDs which employ a conventional polysilane, poly(methylphenylsilane). In contra st to LEDs based on conventional polysilanes in which a weak ultraviolet El ectroluminescence (EL) plas detected either with a strong broad visible EL or only at low temperatures, room-temperature pure near-ultraviolet EL was observed with a quantum? effciency of 0.1% photons/electron with an electro n injecting Al electrode in PBPS-LEDs. We examined the spectroscopic, elect ronic and structural properties of PBPS, and ascribed to them the improveme nts observed in the EL characteristics. We also mention the possible future direction of polysilane LED research and other potential optoelectronics a pplications of polysilanes to the active medium of lasers. Copyright (C) 20 00 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.