Effect of Plasma Induced Surface Damages on the Organic Thin Films by Using Metal Mesh

Abstract

In this paper we have investigated the effect of plasma induced damages on the organic small molecular electron transport layers in organic light emitting devices with such electroluminescent materials as tris(8-hydroxyquinolinato) aluminum (Alq(3)) layers was used for studying plasma-induced degradation. We presently use metal mesh that could reduce the influence of plasma exposure of the organic layer films. The photoluminescence, atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and current-voltage characteristics of electron transport material was measured after exposing to argon plasma. The high-energy species in plasma induces the sputtering of organic layers, quenching of emission sites, and the creation of defect sites in organic layers. In the current-voltage characteristics, negative differential resistance phenomenon was observed corresponding to electron-only device structure of Indium Tin Oxide (ITO)/Alq(3)/LiF/Al. The carrier transport behavior in the electron-only device was described. (C) 2016 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.