| PATENT ASSIGNEE'S COUNTRY | USA |
| UPDATE | 09.99 |
| PATENT NUMBER | This data is not available for free |
| PATENT GRANT DATE | 07.09.99 |
| PATENT TITLE |
Heat-resistant organic electroluminescent device |
| PATENT ABSTRACT |
An organic electroluminescent device that comprises a substrate, a first conductive layer on the substrate, an electron-transporting and light-emitting layer, a second conductive layer adjacent the electron-transporting and light-emitting layer and remote from the first conductive layer, and a hole-conducting layer sandwiched between the first conductive layer and the electron-transporting and light-emitting layer. The hole-conducting layer comprises a poly(arylamine) including at least one compound of formula (I): ##STR1## In this: R is independently in each occurrence a C.sub.1-24 hydrocarbyl, hydrocarboxyl, hydrothiocarboxy, hydroarylcarboxy, or hydrothioarylcarboxy; Ar.sub.1 and Ar.sub.2 are independently in each occurrence a C.sub.6-18 aryl moiety optionally substituted with one or more C.sub.1-24 hydrocarbyl, hydrocarboxyl, hydrothiocarboxy, hydroarycarboxy, or hydrothioarylcarboxy; A is independently in each occurrence hydrogen or a halogen; x is independently in each occurrence a positive number between 0 and 1; n is a whole number from 0 to 4; and m is a number from about 5 to about 1000. |
| PATENT INVENTORS | This data is not available for free |
| PATENT ASSIGNEE | This data is not available for free |
| PATENT FILE DATE | 27.08.96 |
| PATENT REFERENCES CITED |
Adachi, Chihaya et al., "Confinement of Charge Carriers and Molecular Excitons within 5-nm-thick Emitter Layer in Organic Electroluminescent Devices with a Double Heterostructure", Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 57, No. 6 (Aug. 6, 1990), pp. 531-533. Baker, T. Nelson, III et al., "Electrophilic Substitution Reactions of Triphenylamine", Journal of Organic Chemistry, vol. 30, pp. 3714-3718 (Nov. 1965). Chemical Abstract, 93-365193/46 (1993). Derwent 97-359265/199733 (JP 915137 A). Ishikawa, Masazumi et al., "Synthesis and Properties of Electrically Conducting Polytriphenylamines", Synthetic Metals, vol. 40, pp. 231-238 (1991). Ishikawa, Wataru et al., "Novel Amorphous Molecular Materials: The Starburst Molecule 1,3,5-Tris›N-(4-diphenylaminophenyl)-phenylamino!benzene", Advanced Materials, vol. 5, No. 7/8, pp. 559-561 (1993). Kuwabara, Yoshiyuki et al., "Thermally Stable Multilayered Organic Electroluminescent Devices Using Novel Starburst Molecules, 4,4',4"-Tri(N-carbozolyl)triphenylamine (TCTA) and 4,4',4"-Tris(3-methylphenylphenylamino)triphenylamine (m-MTDATA), as Hole-Transport Materials", Advanced Materials, vol. 6, No. 9, pp. 677-679 (1994). Pai, D.M. et al., Journal Phys. Chem., vol. 88, No. 20, pp. 4714-4717 (1984). Tang, C.W. et al., Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 51, No. 12, pp. 913-915 (Sep. 1987). Adachi, Chihaya et al., Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 56, No. 9, pp. 799-801 (Feb. 1990). Kido, Junji et al., Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 61, No. 7, pp. 761-763 (Aug. 1992). Colon, et al., Journal of Polymer Science, Part A, Polymer Chemistry, vol. 28, pp. 367-383 (1990). Gautier, Sylvie, et al., Synthesis, pp. 383-385 (Apr. 1987). Guram, Anil S. et al., Angewandte Chemie Int'l Ed. In English, vol. 34, No. 12, pp. 1348-1350, 1995. Iyoda et al., Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan, vol. 63, No. 1, pp. 80-87 (1990). Miyaura, et al., Synthetic Communications, vol. 11, pp. 513-519 (1981). Wallow et al., American Chemical Society Polymer Preprint, vol. 34(1), pp. 1009-1010 (1993). Yamamoto, Takakazu, Progress in Polymer Science, vol. 17, pp. 1153-1205 (1992). Tokita S. et al., "High-Temperature Operation of an Electroluminescent Device Fabricated using a Novel Triphenylamine Derivative", Applied Physics Letters, vol. 69, No. 7, Aug. 12, 1996, pp. 878-880. Shirota Y. et al., "Multilayered Organic Electroluminescent Device using a Novel Starburst Molecule . . . ", Applied Physics Letters, vol. 65, No. 7, Aug. 15, 1994, pp. 807-809. Research Disclosure, Jul. 1992, No. 339, pp. 571-573, "Electroluminescent Device and Substances Suited for Use Therein", disclosed by D. Terrell. |
| PATENT CLAIMS |
We claim: 1. An organic electroluminescent device, comprising: a substrate; a first conductive layer on the substrate, the first conductive layer being translucent; an electron-transporting and light-emitting layer; a second conductive layer adjacent the electron-transporting and light-emitting layer and remote from the first conductive layer, and a hole transporting layer sandwiched between the first conductive layer and the electron-transporting and light-emitting layer, the hole-transporting layer comprising a poly(arylamine) including at least one compound of formula (I): ##STR9## in which: R is independently in each occurrence a C.sub.1-24 hydrocarbyl, hydrocarboxyl, hydrothiocarboxy, hydroarylcarboxy, or hydrothioarylcarboxy; Ar.sub.1 and Ar.sub.2 are independently in each occurrence a C.sub.6-18 aryl moiety optionally substituted with one or more C.sub.1-24 hydroaryl, hydrocarboxyl, hydrothiocarboxy, hydroarylcarboxy, or hydrothioarylcarboxy; A is independently in each occurrence hydrogen or a halogen; x is independently in each occurrence a positive number between 0 and 1; n is a whole number from 0 to 4; and m is a number from about 5 to about 1000. |
| PATENT DESCRIPTION |
FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to electroluminescent devices and more particularly to an organic electroluminescent device having improved anodic structures adjoining organic active layers. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION There has been an increasing need for versatile visual displays for electronic products of many kinds. Light-emitting diodes ("LEDs") and liquid-crystal displays ("LCDs") have found many useful applications but have not been adequate in all cases. A visual display that is of relatively recent origin and that has shown much promise is the organic electroluminescent device. An electroluminescent device basically consists of an electroluminescent substance placed between a pair of electrodes. When an electric potential is applied across the electrodes, the electroluminescent substance emits visible light. Typically one of the electrodes is translucent, permitting the light to shine through. FIG. 1 illustrates a typical electroluminescent device of the kind known in the art. A glass substrate 101 is coated with a translucent anode 103. A translucent hole transport layer 105 covers part of the anode and an electron transport layer 107 covers the hole transport layer, forming an interface 109 between the two layers. A cathode 111 covers the electron transport layer. In some devices the hole transport layer consists of two sublayers having slightly different composition, one sublayer forming a lower region 113 adjacent the anode and the other sublayer forming an upper region 115 adjacent the electron transport layer. The thicknesses of the anode, hole transport layer, electron transport layer and cathode are each of the order of 10-500 nanometers (100-5000 .ANG.ngstroms). In operation, electric power from a voltage source 117 is applied to the anode and the cathode, biasing the anode positive with respect to the cathode. This causes regions of positive charge ("holes") to migrate through the hole transport layer from the anode toward the electron transport layer and electrons to migrate from the cathode through the electron transport layer toward the hole transport layer. The holes and electrons combine at the interface 115 between the two layers, emitting visible light. The light propagates out of the device through the hole transport layer, the anode and the substrate as indicated by an arrow 119. It has been found that certain organic materials are particularly well suited for fabricating the hole and electron transport layers. An electroluminescent device fabricated of such materials is called an organic electroluminescent device. The anode of a typical organic electroluminescent device is made of indium tin oxide ("ITO"). Then the hole transport layer is formed by vapor deposition of N,N'-diphenyl-N-N'-bis(3-methylphenyl)-1,1'-biphenyl-4,4'-diamine ("TPD"). Next, the electron transport layer is formed, also by vapor deposition, of aluminum tris-8-hydroxyquinoline (Alq.sub.3). Finally the cathode is formed by thermal evaporation of magnesium (Mg) and silver (Ag). Many different compounds and variations in structure have been used for the different layers and regions in organic electroluminescent devices. Examples of such devices and the specific compounds of which they are made are found in such references as U.S. Pat. No. 4,356,429 (Tang) issued Oct. 26, 1982; U.S. Pat. No. 4,539,507 (VanSlyke et al.) issued Sep. 3, 1985; U.S. Pat. No. 4,885,211 (Tang et al.) issued Dec. 5, 1989; U.S. Pat. No. 5,047,687 (VanSlyke) issued Sep. 10, 1991; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,059,862 (VanSlyke et al.) issued Oct. 22, 1991, U.S. Pat. 5,061,569 (VanSlyke et al.) issued Oct. 29, 1991, all of which are incorporated herein by this reference. See also Tang et al., Electroluminescence of Doped Organic Thin Films, JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS no. 65(9), May 1, 1989, pages 3610-3616. Use of a conducting polymer as the anode in a flexible LED based on poly›2-methoxy-5-(2'-ethyl-hexyloxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene! ("MEH-PPV") has been reported. This type of LED is fabricated by spin-casting MEH-PPV onto the anode to form the electroluminescent layers. The use in such a LED of a conducting film of polyaniline ("PANI"), either in place of or in addition to an ITO anode, is disclosed by Yang et al., Enhanced Performance of Polymer Light-Emitting Diodes Using High-Surface Area Polyaniline Network Electrodes, JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS, Jan. 15, 1995, pages 694-698; Cao et al., Solution-Cast Films of Polyaniline: Optical-Quality Transparent Electrodes, APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS 60 (22), Jun. 1, 1992, pages 2711-2713; and Yang et al., Polyaniline as a Transparent Electrode for Polymer Light-Emitting Diodes: Lower Operating Voltage and Higher Efficiency, APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS 64 (10), Mar. 7, 1994, pages 1245-1247. The reported advantages to using PANI in such LEDs include mechanical strength, reduced drive voltage, increased efficiency and adaptability to a flexible substrate. A recurring problem with organic electroluminescent devices is a very short service life when continuously driven. Typically such a device has a service life of less than 30 hours before all luminance disappears. There have been many attempts to overcome this problem and to provide an organic electroluminescent device with a better service life. For example, it is proposed by Adachi et al. in Molecular Design of Hole Transport Materials for Obtaining High Durability in Organic Electroluminescent Diodes, APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS no. 66 (20), May 15, 1995, pages 2679-2681, to use certain aromatic amines for the hole transport layer. Many aromatic tertiary amines that have been used to fabricate hole transport layers are disclosed in such references as U.S. Pat. No. 4,885,211 (Tang et al.) at column 14 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,059,862 (VanSlyke et al.) at column 9. Adachi et al. report service lives ranging from a few hours for devices having hole transport layers made of some such amines to as much as 500 hours for others. Adachi et al. suggest that devices having hole transport layers fabricated of those amines which provided the smallest energy barrier between the anode and the hole transport layer had the longest service lives. Another proposal for increasing the service lives of organic electroluminescent devices by using amines for the hole transport layer is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,489 (Imai et al.) issued Dec. 20, 1994. Imai et al. propose using 4,4',4"-tri(N-phenothiazinyl)triphenylamine ("TPTTA" for short) or 4,4',4"-tri(N-phenoxazinyl)triphenylamine ("TPOTA") for the hole transport layer. Using TPTTA for the hole transport layer (Example 1) resulted in a half-life of 385 hours, and using TPOTA (Example 2) yielded a half-life of 370 hours. By comparison, using TPD for the hole transport layer resulted in a half-life of only 131 hours. Better results were achieved by using two different amines, one for each of the two regions of the hole transport layer. In Example 3, TPTTA was used for the upper region of the hole transport layer adjacent the luminescent layer and a second amine characterized by a "star burst" molecule, that is a molecule having a stellar structure such as 4,4',4"-tris›N-e-methylphenyl)-N-phenylamino!-triphenylamine ("MTDATA") was used for the lower region adjacent the anode. A half-life of 550 hours resulted. Example 4 was similar except that TPOTA was used for the upper region, resulting in a half-life of 530 hours. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,306,572 (Ohashi et al.) issued Apr. 26, 1994, attention was concentrated on the interfaces between the various layers of the organic electroluminescent device. In one embodiment it was proposed to create an "interfacial" layer between the anode and the hole transport layer by treating one of the layers with a silane-coupling agent to reduce unevenness of the anode layer and improve adherence between the layers. The silane-coupling agent is a compound represented by the formula X-Si(OR).sub.3 where R is a hydrolyzable group and X is a functional group capable of reacting with the organic substance such as an amino, vinyl, epoxy or mercapto group or a halogen. Devices fabricated using various silane-coupling agents were claimed to have service lives of between 5,000 and 8,000 hours, compared to 10 hours for a device that omitted the silane-coupling agent. Service lives of up to 15,000 hours were claimed by forming a hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon film on the anode prior to using the silane-coupling agent. The repeatability of this work is uncertain, and the cost of implementing the technique in production may be higher than desired. In U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/508,020, (now U.S. Pat. No. 5,719,467) assigned to the one of the assignees of the present application, the inventors of the present application disclosed an organic electroluminescent device that uses a conducting form of a PANI film in its anodic structure to achieve greatly improved lifetimes. This organic electroluminescent device included a thin film of a conducting polymer such as polyaniline doped with camphor-sulfonic acid between the anode and the hole transport layer. In an alternative embodiment, the conducting polymer itself served as the anode. Service lifetimes of the order of 1000 hours were provided. However, in common with many other known organic electroluminescent devices, the light output and service life were substantially reduced by subjecting the electroluminescent device to temperatures in the range to which an electroluminescent device installed in an automobile dashboard, for example, could be subject when the car is parked in the sun. From the foregoing it will be seen that there remains a need for an economical, reliable, durable, commercially-practical organic electroluminescent device whose service life and light output are not impaired by exposure to high temperatures. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention provides an organic electroluminescent device that comprises a substrate, an electron-transporting and light-emitting layer, and a hole-conducting layer sandwiched between the substrate and the electron-transporting and light-emitting layer. The hole-conducting layer comprises a poly(arylamine) including at least one compound of formula (I): ##STR2## In this: R is independently in each occurrence a C.sub.1-24 hydrocarbyl, hydrocarboxyl, hydrothiocarboxy, hydroarylcarboxy, or hydrothioarylcarboxy; Ar.sub.1 and Ar.sub.2 are independently in each occurrence a C.sub.6-18 aryl moiety optionally substituted with one or more C.sub.1-24 hydrocarbyl, hydroarylcarboxy, hydrothiocarboxy, hydroarycarboxy, or hydrothioarylcarboxy; A is independently in each occurrence hydrogen or a halogen; x is independently in each occurrence a positive number between 0 and 1; n is a whole number from 0 to 4; and m is a number from about 5 to about 1000. The electroluminescent device may additionally comprise a substrate including a first conductive layer, and may also comprise an electron-transporting and light-emitting layer. The first conductive layer is translucent. The layer of the poly(arylamine) provides a hole-transporting layer and is sandwiched between the first conductive layer and the electron-transporting and light-emitting layer. The electroluminescent device may also comprise a second conductive layer adjacent the electron-transporting and light-emitting layer, and remote from the hole-transporting layer. The electron transporting and light-emitting layer may be a metal chelated oxinoid compound represented by the structural formula (0): ##STR3## in which Me represents a metal, q is an integer between 0 and 3 and X independently in each occurrence represents atoms completing a nucleus having at least two fused aromatic rings, at least one of which is an azole or azine ring. Preferably, the electron transporting and light-emitting layer is aluminum tris-8-hydroxyquinoline ("Alq.sub.3 "), which, optionally, may include a fluorescent dye. The electroluminescent device may also include a layer of an aromatic tertiary amine interposed between the layer of the poly(arylamine) and the electron-transport and light-emitting layer. The aromatic tertiary amine may contain at least two tertiary amine molecules and including, attached to a tertiary amine nitrogen atom, an aromatic moiety containing an aromatic ring or at least two fused aromatic rings. The preferred aromatic tertiary amine is N,N'-diphenyl-N-N'-bis(3-methylphenyl)-1,1'-biphenyl-4,4'-diamine ("TPD"). The invention also provides a method of making an organic electroluminescent device. In the method, a substrate having a translucent conductive layer, a solution of a poly(arylamine) including at least one compound of formula (I) set forth above, an electron-transporting and light-emitting material, and a conductive material are provided. A device structure is formed on the translucent conductive layer by coating from the solution a layer of the poly(arylamine) onto the translucent conductive layer to form a hole-transporting layer, depositing a layer of the electron-transporting and light-emitting material on the layer of the poly(arylamine), and depositing a layer of the conductive material on the layer of the electron-transporting and light-emitting material. An aromatic tertiary amine may additionally be provided. The aromatic tertiary amine may contain at least two tertiary amine molecules and including, attached to a tertiary amine nitrogen atom, an aromatic moiety containing an aromatic ring or at least two fused aromatic rings. The device structure may be formed by depositing a layer of the aromatic tertiary amine onto the layer of the poly(arylamine) to form a small-molecule hole transporting layer, and the layer of the electron-transporting and light-emitting material may be deposited on the layer of the aromatic tertiary amine. N,N'-diphenyl-N-N'-bis(3-methylphenyl)-1,1'-biphenyl-4,4'-diamine ("TPD") is preferably provided as the aromatic tertiary amine. The device structure may be formed by additionally annealing the substrate and the layer of the poly(arylamine) prior to depositing the layer of the electron-transporting and light-emitting material. A metal chelated oxinoid compound represented by the structural formula (0) may be provided as the electron-transporting and light-emitting material: ##STR4## In this, Me represents a metal, q is an integer between 0 and 3 and X independently in each occurrence represents atoms completing a nucleus having at least two fused aromatic rings, at least one of which is an azole or azine ring. The metal chelated oxinoid compound preferably includes aluminum tris-8-hydroxyquinoline ("Alq.sub.3 "). Finally, depositing the layer of the electron-transporting and light-emitting material may include doping the electron-transporting and light-emitting material with the fluorescent dye. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 shows a schematic depiction of a known electroluminescent device. FIG. 2 shows a schematic representation of a first embodiment of an electroluminescent device according to the invention. FIG. 3 shows a schematic representation of a second embodiment of an electroluminescent device according to the invention. |
| PATENT EXAMPLES | This data is not available for free |
| PATENT PHOTOCOPY | Available on request |
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