Tuning the interfacial hole injection barrier between p-type organic materials and Co using a MoO3 buffer layer

We demonstrate that the interfacial hole injection barrier Delta(h) between p-type organic materials (i.e., CuPc and pentacene) and Co substrate can be tuned by the insertion of a MoO3 buffer layer. Using ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy, it was found that the introduction of MoO3 buffer layer effectively reduces the hole injection barrier from 0.8 eV to 0.4 eV for the CuPc/Co interface, and from 1.0 eV to 0.4 eV for the pentacene/Co interface, respectively. In addition, by varying the thickness of the buffer, the tuning effect of Delta(h) is shown to be independent of the thickness of MoO3 interlayer at both CuPc/Co and pentacene/Co interfaces. This Fermi level pinning effect can be explained by the integer charge-transfer model. Therefore, the MoO3 buffer layer has the potential to be applied in p-type organic spin valve devices to improve the device performance via reducing the interfacial hole injection barrier. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4740455]