Simulation study on the effect of the emitter orientation and photonic crystals on the outcoupling efficiency of organic light-emitting diodes

Abstract

Combined optical simulation of the ray-tracing technique and the finite difference time domain method was used to investigate the effect of the emitter orientation and the photonic crystal layer on the outcoupling efficiency (OCE) of bottom-emission type organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). The OLED with a horizontal emitter exhibited an opposite interference effect to that of one with a vertical emitter, which suggested that the OCE would be very sensitive to the emitter orientation at a fixed emitter-cathode distance. The OLED with a horizontal emitter exhibited much larger OCE than that with a vertical emitter did, which was due to the substantial difference in the radiation pattern along with the different coupling with the surface plasmon excitation. The OCE with a horizontal emitter was increased by approximately 1.3 times by inserting a photonic crystal layer between the indium tin oxide layer and the glass substrate. The present study suggested that appropriate control of the emitter orientation and its combination to other outcoupling structures could be used to enhance the OCE of OLEDs substantially.