Organic Opto-Electronic Devices for Data Storage and Solid-State Lighting

• Main Author: Lauters, Michael E
• Other Authors: Sarid, Dror
• Language: EN
• Published: The University of Arizona. 2006
• Subjects: Organic Light Emitting Diode; Memory; Conductance States; MIM; Macromolecule
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10150/193770

Metal/organic/indium tin oxide (ITO) structures, including OLEDs, are demonstrated to contain multiple nonvolatile conductance states that can be programmed by the application of an external bias above a certain threshold voltage (Vth). These conductance states are stable and in turn can be probed by the use of a bias lower in value than Vth. The unbiased retention time of states is greater than several weeks, and more than 48,000 write-read-rewrite-read cycles have been performed with minimal degradation. It is found that the programming of a continuum of conductance states is possible, and techniques to do so are outlined. The electrical conductivity of the highest and lowest states can differ by six orders of magnitude. Switching speeds below 50 ns are shown, resulting in an energy requirement of about 100 pJ to switch from one conductance state to another. The memory phenomenon is shown to be influenced by the active layer thickness and anode/surface roughness while temperature dependence is limited. The electrical characteristics of these devices are consistent with metal diffusion or filament phenomena found in metal-insulator-metal structures, suggesting a possible mechanism by which the states are stored.Electroluminescent devices employing several new organic-inorganic lumophore-functionalized macromolecules are presented. In this study, macromolecules incorporating several lumophores covalently bonded to the vertices of a cubical core structure based on Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane (POSS) in multiple configurations are implemented as light-emitting centers. The hole-transporting polymer poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK) and electron-transporting additive 2-(4-biphenylyl)-5-(4-tert-butylphenyl)1,3,4-oxadiazole (PBD) are used as a two-part host to enhance the carrier transport in these simple solution-processed single-layer devices. A study of energy transfer in several systems is carried out to understand the requirements needed to create white-light emission from a single macromolecule. A single macromolecule incorporating twenty-one blue and one yellow lumophore is shown to exhibit field-independent stable white-light electroluminescence with Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.31, 0.37). An external quantum efficiency of 0.55 percent and a maximum brightness of 1600 cd/m2 are attained with simple solution-processed single-layer devices. High solubility and ease of purification give these macromolecule white-light emitters advantages over their small molecule and polymeric type counterparts.