Mechanism for the direct electron injection from Al cathode to the phosphine oxide type electron transport layer

A high efficiency blue fluorescent organic light-emitting diode without LiF electron injection layer was developed. Aluminum electrode was directly deposited on a phosphine oxide type electron transport layer and the observed quantum efficiency was as high as 6.13%. The ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy data clearly indicated that the electron injection barrier (the offset between Al Fermi level and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital of the organic layer) is less than 0.1 eV, which led us to believe that more efficient electron injection through the lower barrier is mainly responsible for the high efficiency. c 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3555443]