Light conversion efficiency of top-emitting organic light-emitting diode structure

Top-emitting organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with a microcavity structure are presented in this paper. We performed a finite element (FE) analysis of a trilayer OLED that was inserted between the reflective layer and the semi-reflective layer of a device. We carried out an optical analysis of this OLED device and calculated the optimal width between the reflective layer and the semi-reflective layer to consider the microcavity effect. Our simulation revealed that the thickness of each layer can affect the recombination rate at the emission layer. We used five OLED devices. Device A is a reference device with a 42.5 nm hole transport layer (HTL), a 15 nm emission layer (EML) and a 45 nm electron transport layer (ETL). We varied the thickness of the HTL of Device A to 20 nm and 65 nm, and designated these devices as Device B and Device C, respectively. We also varied the thickness of the ETL of Device A to 20 nm and 65 nm, and designated these devices as Device D and Device E, respectively. As the thickness of the HTL and the ETL are decreased, a higher recombination rate is achieved. However, the highest recombination rate does not necessarily correspond to the highest external quantum efficiency (EQE) owing to the resonance effect. Our simulation revealed that the overall thickness of the device seems to be a more significant factor owing to the path of light.