Influence of cavity thickness and emitter orientation on the efficiency roll-off of phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes

This article describes the first systematic investigation of how the efficiency roll-off in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) is influenced by the position and orientation of the emitter molecules within the OLED cavity. The efficiency roll-off is investigated for two OLED stacks containing either the phosphorescent emitter Ir(MDQ)₂(acac) or Ir(ppy)₃ by varying the distance between emitter and metal cathode; a strong influence of emitter position and orientation on roll-off is observed. The measurements are modeled by triplet-triplet-annihilation (TTA) theory yielding the critical current density and the TTA rate constant. It is found that Ir(MDQ)₂(acac) shows the lowest roll-off when the emitter is located in the first optical maximum of the electromagnetic field, whereas the roll-off of the Ir(ppy)₃ stack is lowest when the emitter is positioned closer to the metal cathode. Measurement and modeling of time-resolved electroluminescence show that the different roll-off behavior is due to the different orientation and the corresponding change of the decay rate of the emissive dipoles of Ir(MDQ)₂(acac) and Ir(ppy)₃. Finally, design principles are developed for optimal high-brightness performance by modeling the roll-off as a function of emitter-cathode distance, emissive dipole orientation, and radiative efficiency.