Transparent, low resistance, and flexible amorphous ZnO-doped In2O3 Anode Grown on a PES Substrate

Abstract

Transparent and low resistance amorphous ZnO-doped In2O3 (IZO) anode films were grown by radio-frequency (rf) sputtering on an organic passivated polyethersulfone (PES) substrate for use in flexible organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Under optimized growth conditions, a sheet resistance of 15.2 /, average transmittance above 89% in the green range, and a root mean square roughness of 0.375 nm were obtained, even for the IZO anode film grown in a pure Ar ambient without the addition of oxygen as a reactive gas. All of the IZO anode films had an amorphous structure regardless of the rf power and the working pressure due to the low substrate temperature of 50°C and the structural stability of the amorphous IZO films. In addition, an X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy depth profile obtained for the IZO/PES showed no obvious evidence of interfacial reactions between the IZO anode and the PES substrate, except for some indiffusion of oxygen atoms from the IZO anode. Furthermore, the current-voltage-luminance of the flexible OLEDs fabricated on IZO anode was found to be critically dependent on the sheet resistance of the IZO anode.