Improving the stability of organic light-emitting devices by using a hole-injection-tunable-anode-buffer-layer

Introducing a hole-injection-tunable-anode-buffer-layer (HITABL) at the indium tin oxide anode contact of an organic light-emitting device can finely tune hole injection to establish proper charge balance, thus remarkably improves its operational stability. The HITABL consists of two sublayers: (i) an similar to 2.5 nm thick metal (e.g., Ca, Mg, or Ag) sublayer and (ii) an similar to 10 nm thick tetrafluorotetracyanoquinodimethane (F(4)TCNQ) doped N-'-di(naphthalene-1-yl)-N,N-'-diphenyl-benzidine sublayer. Hole injection can be tuned by changing (i) the metal in the first sublayer and/or (ii) the concentration of the F(4)TCNQ dopant in the second sublayer. The choice of the metal used in the first sublayer and/or the concentration of F(4)TCNQ in the second sublayer affect the hole-injection efficiency. Therefore, by using the HITABL, one can make the necessary diminutive adjustments to the hole injection of a device and achieve proper charge balance, resulting in a significant improvement in operational stability. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.