The internal quantum efficiency of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) can reach values close to 100% if phosphorescent emitters to harvest triplet excitons are used, however the fraction of light that is actually leaving the device is considerably less. Loss mechanisms are for example waveguiding in the organic layers and the substrate as well as the excitation of surface plasmon polaritons at metallic electrodes. In this work we use numerical simulations to identify and quantify different loss mechanisms. Changing various simulation parameters, for example layer thicknesses, enables us to study their influence on the fraction of light leaving the OLED. With these simulations we therefore can enhance the light output of the OLED stack. We present simulations of bottom-emitting OLEDs based on the green emitter tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq₃) with transparent indium tin oxide anode and a metallic cathode, as well as microcavity devices with two metallic electrodes. The results of the simulations are compared with experimental data on the angular dependent emission spectra and published effi;ciency data.

Date Published: 16 April 2008
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 6999, Organic Optoelectronics and Photonics III, 69992V (16 April 2008); doi: 10.1117/12.780525

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6999:
Organic Optoelectronics and Photonics III
Paul L. Heremans; Michele Muccini; Eric A. Meulenkamp, Editor(s)