Study of indium tin oxide thin films for novel organic light-emitting devices

Abstract

Indium tin oxide (ITO) has been widely used as transparent electrode in many optoelectronic devices due to its unique properties of high optical transparency and electrical conductivity. In this work, a low temperature ITO deposition process was developed using radio frequency magnetron sputtering. The effect of hydrogen partial pressure on the electrical, optical, mechanical, structural and surface electronic properties of ITO films was explored. A composite optical destructive anode (ODA) that consists of optically absorbing and electrically conducting oxygen-deficient ITO layer has been developed and applied for sunlight readable organic light emitting devices (OLEDs). Devices made with ODA exhibit a substantial reduction in the ambient light reflection from the metallic cathode, leading to an enhanced visual contrast. The improvement in the visual contrast of the OLEDs due to the use of ODA was analyzed and optimized using an optical admittance analysis.