Effect of Ambient Gases on the Characteristics of ITO Thin Films for OLEDs

Abstract

We have investigated the effect of ambient gases on the structural, electrical, and optical characteristics of ITO thin films intended for use as anode contacts in OLED (organic light emitting diodes) devices. These ITO thin films are deposited by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering under different ambient gases (Ar, Ar+<TEX>$O_2$</TEX>, and Ar+<TEX>$H_2$</TEX>) at <TEX>$300{^{\circ}C}$</TEX>. In order to investigate the influences of the oxygen and hydrogen, the flow rate of oxygen and hydrogen in argon mixing gas has been changed from 0.5 sccm to 5 sccm and from 0.01 sccm to 0.25 sccm, respectively. The intensity of the (400) peak in the ITO thin films increased with increasing <TEX>$O_2$</TEX>, flow rate whilst the (400) peak was nearly invisible in an atmosphere of Ar+<TEX>$H_2$</TEX>. The electrical resistivity of the ITO thin films increased with increasing <TEX>$O_2$</TEX> flow rate, whereas the electrical resistivity decreased sharply under an Ar+<TEX>$H_2$</TEX> atmosphere and was nearly similar regardless of the <TEX>$H_2$</TEX> flow rate. The change of electrical resistivity with changes in the ambient gas composition was mainly interpreted in terms of the charge carrier mobility rather than the charge carrier concentration. All the films showed an average transmittance of over 80% in the visible range. The OLED device was fabricated with different ITO substrates made with the configuration of ITO/<TEX>$\alpha$</TEX>-NPD/DPVB/<TEX>$Alq_3$</TEX>/LiF/Al in order to elucidate the performance of the ITO substrate. Current density and luminance of OLED devices with ITO thin films deposited in Ar+<TEX>$H_2$</TEX> ambient gas is the highest among all the ITO thin films.