The fabrication of high density nanochannel organic light emitting diodes with reduced charge spreading

This study reports fabrication and characterization of nanoscale organic light emitting diodes with reduced charge spreading. Nanoimprint lithography is used to make SU-8 nanochannels with approximately 90 degrees sidewalls into which N'-bis(naphthalen-1-yl)-N,N'-bis(phenyl)benzidine (NPB) and tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq3) are thermally evaporated, to avoid charge spreading. Micron grating devices are fabricated for comparison. Device characteristics show that performance is retained while scaling down to nanochannels, as no geometry dependent trend is observed. Surface potential microscopy (SPM) measurements reveal an identical periodic difference in surface potential for nanochannel and microscale grating devices. The SPM results, together with cross-sectional scanning electron microscopy observation of the physical separation of nanoscale organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), indicate electrical separation and isolated light emission from nanoscale confined OLEDs with minimized charge spreading.