Organic light-emitting diodes fabricated on recessed anodes for light extraction enhancement

Circular recesses have been fabricated on indium tin oxide (ITO) anodes to enhance light extraction of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). The effects of recess depth and recess coverage ratio on the performance of a green OLED were systematically investigated. Results showed that the current efficiency could be enhanced from 40.7 cd/A of a planar device to 47.2 cd/A of the device with a recess depth of 100 nm and a recess coverage ratio of 14.1%. The enhanced light extraction by the recess wall effect was realized to be the major factor leading to the improved efficiency. The efficiency is however limited by the accompanying increase in electrical resistivity of the ITO films at deep recesses and high recess coverage ratios. Despite of the insignificant efficiency enhancement (up to 16%) in this study, this recessed ITO approach provides a simple architecture to enhance waveguide mode light extraction without adding an internal medium. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.