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Electrical impedance measurements of polymer light-emitting diodes

Journal Article · · Applied Physics Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.114267· OSTI ID:64320
;  [1];  [2]
  1. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 (United States)
  2. The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas 75083 (United States)

We report electrical impedance measurements of polymer light-emitting diodes employing the soluble, conjugated polymer poly[2-methoxy, 5-(2{prime}-ethyl-hexyloxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene] (MEH-PPV) as the light-emitting layer. The diode structures were metal-polymer-metal structures utilizing thin gold as the transparent, positive contact, and calcium as the negative contact. The devices were fabricated using undoped, polymer active layers {similar_to}40 nm thick. The polymer light-emitting diodes are accurately modeled as a resistor and capacitor in parallel for frequencies from 100 Hz to 1 MHz and for bias conditions from reverse bias to forward current densities of 0.1 A/cm{sup 2}. The diode capacitance as a function of bias voltage is qualitatively different from conventional Schottky or {ital p}-{ital n} junction diodes; in reverse bias, the polymer layer is fully depleted and the capacitance is independent of bias; at small forward bias, traps are charged near the metallic contacts and the capacitance increases; under large forward bias, with significant electron and hole injection, the traps are neutralized and the capacitance decreases. From the magnitude of the initial increase in capacitance with forward bias the trap density is estimated to be only a few times 10{sup 16} cm{sup {minus}3}. {copyright} {ital 1995} {ital American} {ital Institute} {ital of} {ital Physics}.

OSTI ID:
64320
Journal Information:
Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 22 Vol. 66; ISSN APPLAB; ISSN 0003-6951
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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