What They Say
A group from Michigan University has a new electrode for OLEDs that helps extract light from OLEDs. Without special treatment, around 80% of the light from an OLED device is emitted in angles that do not allow light extraction. The most significant layer in this is an ITO electrode. The group developed a 5 nm layer of silver deposited on a seed layer of copper. The result is a transparent layer that avoids the problem. Light can also be lost in the glass, so the group used an index matching layer of oil. The light output of treated OLEDs was increased by around 20%.
The work was published in Science Advances and is freely accessible.
The research was funded by Zenithnano Technology, a company that L. Jay Guo, U-M professor of electrical and computer engineering co-founded to commercialise his lab’s inventions of transparent, flexible metal electrodes for displays and touchscreens.
What We Think
Getting the light out of emissive displays in the direction you want is always a challenge. (BR)
Changyeong Jeong, PhD Candidate in Electrical and Computer Engineering, handles an ultrathin Ag film based OLED inside Professor Jay Guo’s lab. Photo: Robert Coelius/Michigan Engineering
