Light outcoupling efficiency of top-emitting organic light-emitting diodes

We report results obtained from modeling the light outcoupling efficiency of top-emitting organic light-emitting diode (OLED) structures and compare them with results from conventional substrate-emitting structures. We investigate two types of emissive material, small molecule and conjugated polymers, and study three different cathode materials; aluminum, silver, and calcium. We show that top-emitting OLEDs may have outcoupling efficiencies comparable to their substrate-emitting counterparts, and that the choice of cathode material is critical to the optical performance of the device. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.