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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - INFORM (Interfaces in opto-electronic thin film multilayer devices)

Teaser

Summary

The past two decades have witnessed a fertile increase in new functional materials, and in turn, hold great promise for a raft of new commercial applications involving organic/hybrid technologies. This highly interdisciplinary field is rapidly expanding, yet much of the basic interfacial science remains to be understood. Key to this realisation and future successes are an understanding of the processing and control of the numerous material interfaces that exist in contemporary optoelectronic thin-film devices. The INFORM programme offers a paradigm shift, from a material focus, to concentrate on fundamental aspects of device architectures. In this regard, expertise in interface metrology accompanied by accurate descriptions of the various processes and the subsequent impact on device operation are sought; the eventual aim being full control and understanding of processes taking place at interfaces. By training researchers in this exciting, highly multidisciplinary area, INFORM contributes to the need for skilled, knowledgeable researchers in demand upstream by materials suppliers, and downstream by device manufacturers and optoelectronics companies, as well as by printing and coating equipment manufacturers across the European union. A major challenge in achieving the requisite training environment is the breadth of disciplines required and real-world exposure to this burgeoning field. The European partners in the INFORM network are drawn from nine highly regarded academic groups, knowledgeable in multilayer device research and training; an additional four, non- academic partners, bring invaluable industrial insight, manufacturing expertise and a significant perspective over several commercial sectors. INFORMs blend of high-level scientific research and comprehensive training provides the early stage researchers with multidisciplinary know-how and hands-on skills for future careers in the further development of nanotechnology or energy, healthcare and information sectors.

Work performed

Processing and state-of-the-art deposition techniques have been applied to organic-organic and organic-inorganic structures. Micro- and nano-structure of the created architectures have been identified using electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and additional techniques; while molecular conformations and orientations at the interface have been studied using Resonance Raman spectroscopy, they have been complemented by ab initio calculations. We have largely focused on commercially available materials - from small molecular and macromolecular organic semiconductors to perovskite-based materials - so that information can be shared among all partners.
The various diffusion processes, which occur at the numerous interfaces in multilayer devices, are being assessed and new methodologies of harnessing the actual diffusion of dopants/ layers to improve device performance and design new structures are currently under development.
We have aimed at gaining a comprehensive understanding of the physical laws governing the charge generation/recombination process at a donor:acceptor interfaces. The current progress concerns mainly the optimisation of the interlayers and the device architecture. Plans are underway for these to be applied in industrial large-area processes for control and understanding the device performance of different optoelectronic devices.

Final results

INFORMâ€™s impact will come from offering a paradigm shift from materials development, to focusing on interfaces within a given device architecture. Interfacial quality and control is widely understood to dominate the device performance, and are particularly relevant for devices such as OPVs, OLEDs and OFETs. By training researchers in this exciting and highly multidisciplinary area of development, INFORM will impact a number of sectors and industries across Europe. In immediate terms, through the provision of skilled and knowledgeable researchers in the field of multilayer thin film devices; an additional consequence will be accrued knowledge and dissemination of important insights and fundamental understanding of such devices. All directly impact on three of the ECs Key Enabling Technologies: Advanced Materials, Photonics and Nanotechnology.