Performance improvement of organic light emitting diode by low energy ion beam treatment of the indium tin oxide surface

Abstract Indium tin oxide (ITO) surface was treated by low energy O 2 ion beam for the organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). Compared with the conventional devices, the light emitting diodes with the ITO glass treated by oxygen ion beam showed a lower operating voltage. Furthermore, the brightness at 10 V was enhanced by five times and the operational half-lifetime was improved by three times. The XPS measurements showed that the ion beam treatment implanted extra oxygen into the ITO surface and removed carbon contaminants from the ITO surface. The AFM measurements revealed that the ion beam treatment reduced the roughness of the ITO surface. The changes of the surface components and morphology are suspected to be responsible for the change in the electroluminescent performance of the devices.