Measurement of electron mobility in Alq ₃ from optical modulation measurements in multilayer organic light-emitting diodes

The dynamic characteristics of multilayer organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) determine the refresh rate in display applications, and are of great importance for practical organic displays. They also serve as an important tool in studying the transport mechanisms in organic conductors. Here, the modulation characteristics of several conventional small-molecule OLED structures [consisting of ITO/PEDOT:PSS(50 nm)/TPD(50 nm)/Alq ₃ (various)/LiF(1 nm)/Al(90 nm)] are measured and analyzed in terms of mobility in and thickness of the Alq ₃ layer. Their optical response was shown to be limited by electron transport across the Alq ₃. Extracted electron mobilities were about 2 - 4 × 10 ^-6 cm ²/V · s (consistent with that reported in the literature) and near-identical values for mobility were obtained from devices of different thicknesses, suggesting that this method measures mobility independent of interface trap charging. This novel technique is a complement to large signal time of flight or delay time measurements (which can include interface and trap charging during the measurement) and can serve as a flexible method to study transport in actual devices.