Effect of Anode Material and Cavity Design on the Performance of Microcavity OLEDs

The authors report on the effect of the replacement of the conventional ITO anode with the semitransparent metallic material on the performance of microcavity OLEDs. The authors performed comprehensive simulations of the emission from microcavity OLEDs consisting of widely used organic materials, N,N´-di(naphthalene-l-yl)-N,N´-diphenylbenzidine (NPB) as a hole transport layer and tris (8-hydroxyquinoline) (Alq3) as emitting and electron transporting layer. Silver and LiF/Al were considered as a cathode, while metallic (Au and Ag) anode was used and simulations were performed on devices with both the metallic and conventional ITO anode. The electroluminescence emission spectra, electric field distribution inside the device, carrier density, recombination rate and exciton density were calculated as a function of the position of the emission layer. The results show that the metallic anode enhances light output and that optimum emission from a microcavity OLED is achieved when the position of the recombination region is aligned with the antinode of the standing wave inside the cavity. The microcavity OLED devices with Ag/Ag and Ag/Au mirrors were fabricated and characterized. The experimental results have been compared to the simulations and the influence of the different anode, emission region width and position on the performance of microcavity OLEDs was discussed.