Yasunori Taga

Highly efficient phosphorescence from organic light-emitting devices with an exciton-block layer

One of the keys to highly efficient phosphorescent emission in organic light-emitting devices is to confine triplet excitons generated within the emitting layer. We employ “starburst” perfluorinated phenylenes (C60F42) as a both hole- and exciton-block layer, and a hole-transport material 4,4′,4″-tri(N-carbazolyl) triphenylamine as a host for the phosphorescent dopant dye in the emitting layer. A maximum external quantum efficiency reaches to 19.2%, and keeps over 15% even at high current densities of 10–20 mA/cm2, providing several times the brightness of fluorescent tubes for lighting. The onset voltage of the electroluminescence is as low as 2.4 V and the peak power efficiency is 70–72 lm/W, promising for low-power display devices.

Band-Gap Narrowing of Titanium Dioxide by Nitrogen Doping

TiO2-based powder, including 0.1 at% of N doped in the rutile lattice, has been synthesized by oxidation of TiN. As a result, a significant shift of the absorption edge to a lower energy in the visible-light region has been observed. The substitutional doping of N into the TiO2 lattice is found to be effective; its 2p states contribute to the band-gap narrowing by mixing with O 2p as shown in ab initio electronic structure calculations.

Specimen size effect on tensile strength of surface-micromachined polycrystalline silicon thin films

A new tensile tester using an electrostatic-force grip was developed to evaluate the tensile strength and the reliability of thin-film materials. The tester was constructed in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) chamber for in situ observation and was applied for tensile testing of polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) thin films with dimensions of 30-300 /spl mu/m long, 2-5 /spl mu/m wide, and 2 /spl mu/m thick. It was found that the mean tensile strengths of nondoped and P-doped poly-Si are 2.0-2.8 and 2.0-2.7 GPa, respectively, depending on the length of the specimens, irrespective of the specimen width. Statistical analysis of these size effects on the tensile strength predicted that the location of the fracture origin was on the edge of the specimen, which was Identified by the SEM observation of the fracture surface of the thin films.

Raman scattering from LO phonon‐plasmon coupled modes in gallium nitride

Raman spectra of n‐type gallium nitride with different carrier concentrations have been measured. The LO phonon band shifted towards the high‐frequency side and broadened with an increase in carrier concentration. Results showed that the LO phonon was coupled to the overdamped plasmon in gallium nitride. The carrier concentrations and damping constants were determined by line‐shape fitting of the coupled modes and compared to values obtained from Hall measurements. The carrier concentrations obtained from the two methods agree well. As a result, the dominant scattering mechanisms in gallium nitride are deformation‐potential and electro‐optic mechanisms.

Thin film retardation plate by oblique deposition.

The birefringent property of obliquely deposited metal oxides was studied with a view to applying it to optical retardation plates. By finding favorable conditions to form transparent films of large retardation and low opacity, we developed homogeneous quarterwave plates with a bilayered structure 60 x 250 mm in size and ~3 microm thick on glass substrates. These retardation plates can work with a normally incident light based on form birefringence caused by the characteristic anisotropic microstructure inside the film. They showed promising optical properties which can compete with the conventional types of retardation plate.

Thermal stability in oligomeric triphenylamine/tris(8-quinolinolato) aluminum electroluminescent devices

Thermal stability of the electroluminescent (EL) devices using various hole-transporting materials based on triphenylamine, and a typical emitting material, tris(8-quinolinolato) aluminum has been systematically studied. The thermal stability of the EL devices is clearly seen to depend on the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the hole-transporting material. The highest thermal stability up to 155 °C is obtained in the device using the pentamer of triphenylamine. It has been found that the linear linkage of triphenylamine is useful to attain high Tg rather than the branch linkage.

Highly efficient pure blue electroluminescence from polyfluorene: Influence of the molecular weight distribution on the aggregation tendency

A dependency between the molecular weight distribution of polyfluorene (PFO) and its aggregation tendency on operation in organic light-emitting devices (OLED) is described. As a result of these findings, low molecular parts of the polymer could be made responsible for the aggregation in liquid crystalline PFO. Consequently, a procedure was developed which leads to PFO-based OLEDs which do not show aggregation on operation anymore but exhibit highly efficient and stable blue electroluminescence.

Electronic structure of 8-hydroxyquinoline aluminum/LiF/Al interface for organic electroluminescent device studied by ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy

Electronic structures of the 8-hydroxyquinoline aluminum (Alq3)/LiF/Al and Alq3/Al interfaces were measured by ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy. Shifts of the highest occupied molecular orbital level and the vacuum level of the Alq3 layer due to insertion of a thin LiF layer were observed. This result indicates that the thin LiF layer at the Alq3/Al interface reduces barrier height for electron injection from the Al to Alq3. We, therefore, conclude that lowering of the driving voltage in an organic electroluminescent device with a thin LiF layer is attributable to the reduction of the barrier height.

Schottky barriers and contact resistances on p‐type GaN

We measured the Schottky barrier heights and specific contact resistivities of four different metals on p‐type GaN. The Schottky barrier heights of Pt, Ni, Au, and Ti were obtained from the current‐voltage characteristics to be 0.50, 0.50, 0.57, and 0.65 eV, respectively. The specific contact resistivities were 0.013, 0.015, 0.026, and 0.035 Ω⋅cm2, respectively. Our experimental results proved that the Schottky barrier heights and specific contact resistivities decrease with increase in metal work function as expected theoretically.

Deep-level optical spectroscopy investigation of N-doped TiO2 films

N-doped TiO2 films were deposited on n+-GaN∕Al2O3 substrates by reactive magnetron sputtering and subsequently crystallized by annealing at 550 °C in flowing N2 gas. The N-doping concentration was ∼8.8%, as determined from x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements. Deep-level optical spectroscopy measurements revealed two characteristic deep levels located at ∼1.18 and ∼2.48eV below the conduction band. The 1.18 eV level is probably attributable to the O vacancy state and can be active as an efficient generation-recombination center. Additionally, the 2.48 eV band is newly introduced by the N doping and contributes to band-gap narrowing by mixing with the O2p valence band.