Localized morphological change-induced degradation in organic electronic devices

In this paper we report on the degradation mechanism of an organic diode which causes rupturing of the top electrode film and the conducting polymer film. Organic electronic diodes were fabricated and tested at various applied voltages. Analysis of characterization data shows that the degradation is caused by a combination of localized morphological changes due to localized Joule heating, thermal stresses, stresses due to electric fields and bending stress. A modeling approach is proposed to determine the contribution of each of the above stresses and to attempt to estimate a regime of applied voltage, temperatures and polymer film thickness within which the device operates without this form of performance degradation.