Improved performances in top-emitting organic light-emitting diodes based on a semiconductor zinc oxide buffer layer

Electroluminescence performances are improved by inserting a semiconductor zinc oxide (ZnO) buffer layer into the emissive tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum (Alq₃) layer and the semitransparent Al/Ag cathode in top-emitting organic light-emitting diodes (TEOLEDs) with structures of Si/SiO₂/Ag/Ag₂O/4,4′, 4″-tris(3- methylphenylphenylamino)triphenylamine/ 4,4′-bis[N-(1-naphthyl-1-)-N-phenyl- amino]-biphenyl/Alq₃/ZnO/Al/Ag. The thermal deposition of ZnO layer onto Alq₃ results in Alq₃ anion formation, which is beneficial to electron injection by generating some new energy levels in the forbidden band of Alq₃. In addition, a large hole-injection barrier of ∼2 eV at the interface of Alq₃/ZnO effectively blocks hole injection into Al/Ag cathode, leading to more carrier recombination in the emissive region.