Patternless light outcoupling enhancement method for top-emission organic light-emitting diodes

An increase of 65% in the luminous flux of a top-emission organic light-emitting diode (TE-OLED) was obtained by fabricating a stacked N,N'-bis( naphthalen-1-yl)-N,N'-bis(phenyl)benzidine (NPB) (0.2 mu m)/CaF2 (2.5 mu m) light outcoupling layer on the TE-OLED. The high-refractive-index NPB layer extracted the trapped light energy in the TE-OLED for input into the light outcoupling layer and protected the top cathode of the TE-OLED from damage due to the CaF2 layer. The surface morphology of the CaF2 layer had an irregular shape consisting of randomly dispersed pyramids; the irregular structure scattered the waveguide mode energy into air. By combining the effects of the NPB and CaF2 layers, the external quantum efficiency of the TE-OLED was increased significantly. The light outcoupling layer can be fabricated using a thermal evaporation process without patterning and, hence, provides a practical solution for the enhancement of TE-OLED light outcoupling using a patternless fabrication process. (C) 2016 The Japan Society of Applied Physics