Hostname: page-component-54dcc4c588-b5cpw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-07T16:45:06.990Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Study on Organic Triplet Exciton Emission and QuenchingProcesses by Low-temperature Photo- and ElectroluminescenceSpectroscopy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Nils Asmus Kristian Kaufmann
Affiliation:
kaufmann@gan.rwth-aachen.de, RWTH Aachen University, Chair of Electromagnetic Theory, Aachen, Germany
Frank Jessen
Affiliation:
jessen@ithe.rwth-aachen.de, RWTH Aachen University, Chair of Electromagnetic Theory, Aachen, Germany
M. Heuken
Affiliation:
m.heuken@aixtron.com, AIXTRON AG, Aachen, Germany
Herbert Boerner
Affiliation:
herbert.boerner@philips.com, Philips Technologie GmbH Forschungslaboratorien - Philips Research Laboratories, Aachen, Germany
Holger Kalisch
Affiliation:
kalisch@ithe.rwth-aachen.de, RWTH Aachen University, Chair of Electromagnetic Theory, Aachen, Germany
R. H. Jansen
Affiliation:
jansen@ithe.rwth-aachen.de, RWTH Aachen University, Chair of Electromagnetic Theory, Aachen, Germany
Get access

Abstract

Organic light emitting diodes (OLED) are efficient light sources based onorganic semiconductors. Unlike inorganic LEDs which are more or less pointsources, OLED are planar light sources with up to 1 m2 in area.By using organic materials, they are cheap to produce and economical to use.The determination of triplet exciton energy levels is of interest for thedevelopment of efficient OLED, based on the fact that electrical excitationusually creates three times as many triplets as singlets. Additionally, theknowledge of these energy levels is crucial for the design and choice ofemitter matrix materials and exciton blocking layers. These values arenormally determined by photoluminescence (PL) measurements in solution formaterials which show intersystem crossing (ISC) between singlet and tripletstates. For some materials, the triplet levels cannot be measured this waybecause some materials prohibit ISC. In this work, a method is presentedwhich allows the determination of the energy levels using low-temperatureelectroluminescence (EL) spectroscopy. The dependence on ISC is avoided bycreating triplets directly with electrical excitation and this allows tomeasure a large class of organic materials. A low-temperature EL spectrum ispresented forN,N'-bis(3-methylphenyl)-N,N'-diphenyl-[1,1'-biphenyl]-4,4'-diamine (TPD) ina 3-phenyl-4-(1‘-naphthyl)-5-phenyl-1,2,4-triazole (TAZ) matrix (TPD/TAZ1:3) at 77 K. Triplet emission is only observed at very low charge carrierdensity (0.5 μA/mm2). Quenching processes are analyzed usingcombined EL and PL measurements and unipolar devices. Two factors can be thecause of the quenching: A strong quenching based on a low concentration ofelectrically activated impurities could explain the dependency. The otherexplanation points to a quenching based on electrons in the emitting layer.This might be explained with triplet-polaron quenching (TPQ). TPQ isproportional to the charge carrier density and contributes the dominant partto the quenching at low current densities.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

1. Tang, C. W. and Van Slyke, S. A.Organic electroluminescent diodes”, Appl. Phys. Lett. 51, 913 (1987)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2. Tang, C. W., Van Slyke, S. A., and Chen, C. H.Electroluminescence of doped organic thin films”, J. Appl. Phys. 65, 3610 (1989)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3. Segal, M., Baldo, M. A., Holmes, R. J., Forrest, S. R. and Soos, Z. G.Excitonic singlet-triplet ratios in molecular and polymeric organic materials”, PHYSICAL REVIEW B 68, 075211 (2003)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4. Baldo, M. A., Sibley, S., Thompson, M.E.High-efficiency organic electroluminescent devices”, Nature (London) 395, 151 (1998)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5. Adachi, C., Baldo, M. A., Huang, S., Hofmann, M., Werner, A., and Blochwitz-Nimoth, J.Doped organic semiconductors: Physics and application in light emitting diodes”, Org. Electron. 4, 89 (2003)Google Scholar
6. Adachi, C., Baldo, M. A., Thompson, M. E., and Forrest, S. R.Nearly 100% internal phosphorescence efficiency in an organic light emitting device”, J. Appl. Phys. 90, 5048 (2001)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7. Zhou, X., Blochwitz, J., Pfeiffer, M., Nollau, A., Fritz, T., and application in light emitting diodes”, Org. Electron. 4, 89 (2003)Google Scholar
8. Zhou, X., Blochwitz, J., Pfeiffer, M., Nollau, A., Fritz, T., and Leo, K.Enhanced Hole Injection into Amorphous Hole-Transport Layers of Organic Light-Emitting Diodes Using Controlled p-Type Doping”, Adv. Funct. Mater. 11, 310 (2001)3.0.CO;2-D>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9. He, G., Pfeiffer, M., Leo, K., Hofmann, M., Birnstock, J., Pudzich, R., and Salbeck, J.High-efficiency and low-voltage p-i-n electrophosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes with double-emission layers”, Appl. Phys. Lett. 85, 3911 (2004)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10. In Brüttig, W. “Physik of organic semiconductors”, WILEY-VCH, Berlin, 2005 Google Scholar
11. Reineke, Sebastian, Walzer, Karsten, and Leo, KarlTriplet-exciton quenching in organic phosphorescent light-emitting diodes with Ir-based emitters”, PHYSICAL REVIEW B 75, 125328 (2007)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12. Segal, M., Baldo, M. A., Lee, M. K., Shinar, J. and Soos, Z. G.Frequency response and origin of the pin-1 /2 photoluminescence-detected magnetic resonance in a pi-conjugated polymer”, PHYSICAL REVIEW B 71, 245201 (2005)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13. Lee, M.-K., Segal, M., Soos, Z. G., Shinar, J. and Bald, M. A.Yield of Singlet Excitons in Organic light-Emitting Devices: A Double Modulation Photoluminescence-Detected Magnetic Resonance StudyPRL 94, 137403 (2005)CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed