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Influence of Ga-doped transparent conducting ZnO thin film for efficiency enhancement in organic light-emitting diode applications

Applied Physics A volume 127, Article number: 225 (2021) Cite this article

Abstract

In this paper, transparent conducting n-type ZnO:Ga and commercially available SnO\(_2\):F (U-type Asahi) thin films have been used as a front electrode (Anode) in organic light-emitting diode (OLED)-based display devices. RF magnetron sputtered ZnO:Ga thin films with an electrical resistivity of 9.6\(\times \)10\( ^{-5} \) \(\varOmega -cm\), low sheet resistance less than 5.6\(\varOmega \)/\(\square \) and optical transparency greater than 90% have been reported at room temperature (RT) using the glass substrate. The OLED device structure consists of transparent conducting oxide (TCO) (170 nm)/HAT-CN (15 nm)/TAPC (30 nm)/CBP:Ir(ppy)\( _{3} \)(30nm; 8wt%)/BPhen(50 nm)/LiF (1 nm)/Al (120 nm). Normalized intensity of both types TCO (ZnO:Ga and SnO\(_2\):F)-based OLED shows a similar kind of result. The results suggest that Ga-doped ZnO thin films are the substitutional anode materials of commercially established SnO\(_2\):F (fluorine-doped tin oxide), ITO (tin-doped indium oxide) for the OLED application, and also in other optoelectronic devices. The important figures of merit such as external quantum efficiency, current and power efficiency of ZnO:Ga (GZO)-based OLED are demonstrated and compared with SnO\(_2\):F (FTO)-based OLED. These results suggest that Ga-doped ZnO thin films can be a promising candidate as the anode layer in OLEDs as a substitution to ITO and SnO\(_2\):F film.

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Acknowledgements

Rajesh Das and Himadri Sekhar Das acknowledge the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India [DST/TM/SERI/2K10/67(G)], for financial support for pursuing the R&D activity. Sajal Biring acknowledges the financial support from Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (MOST-109-2221-E-131-002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST) Shibpur, Howrah, West Bengal, India

    Himadri Sekhar Das & Prasanta Kumar Nandi

  2. Haldia Institute of Technology, Haldia, West Bengal, India

    Himadri Sekhar Das & Rajesh Das

  3. Ming Chi University of Technology, New Taipei, City-24301, Taiwan

    Sajal Biring

  4. School of Electronics Engineering, Kalinga Institute Industrial Technology (KIIT), Odisha, Bhubaneswar, 751024, India

    Subir Kumar Maity

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  1. Himadri Sekhar Das
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Das, H.S., Das, R., Nandi, P.K. et al. Influence of Ga-doped transparent conducting ZnO thin film for efficiency enhancement in organic light-emitting diode applications. Appl. Phys. A 127, 225 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-021-04339-6

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Keywords

  • Thin film
  • Photoluminescence
  • Optoelectronics device
  • AFM
  • OLED performance