Discharge amplified photo-emission from ultra-thin films applied to tuning work function of transparent electrodes in organic opto-electronic devices

•New, fast approach to measuring ionisation potential and work function.•Discharge amplification of photoemission in air with no secondary emission.•Fast tuning of ionisation potential for doped ultra thin buffer layers.•High performance, flexible transparent electrodes with oxide buffers.•A novel T...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied surface science 2013-11, Vol.285, p.110-114
Main Authors: Gentle, A.R., Smith, G.B., Watkins, S.E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties
Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties
Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science
rheology
Discharge amplification
Exact sciences and technology
Ionisation potential
OPV/OLED
Photo-emission
Physics
Transparent electrodes
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Summary:•New, fast approach to measuring ionisation potential and work function.•Discharge amplification of photoemission in air with no secondary emission.•Fast tuning of ionisation potential for doped ultra thin buffer layers.•High performance, flexible transparent electrodes with oxide buffers.•A novel TC electrode for OPV and OLEDs, [AZO/Ag/AZO/buffer]. A novel photoemission technique utilising localised discharge amplification of photo-yield is reported. It enables fast, accurate measurement of work function and ionisation potential for ultra-thin buffer layers vacuum deposited onto single and multilayer transparent conducting electrodes for organic solar cells and OLED's. Work function in most traditional transparent electrodes has to be raised to maximise charge transfer while high transmittance and high conductance must be retained. Results are presented for a range of metal oxide buffers, which achieve this goal. This compact photo-yield spectroscopy tool with its fast turn-around has been a valuable development aid since ionisation potential can vary significantly as deposition conditions change slightly, and as ultra-thin films grow. It has also been useful in tracking the impact of different post deposition cleaning treatments along with some storage and transport protocols, which can adversely reduce ionisation potential and hence subsequent device performance.
ISSN:0169-4332
1873-5584
DOI:10.1016/j.apsusc.2013.07.161