Electron injection into an Alq3 single-layer organic light-emitting diode

Electric field and temperature-dependent electron injection studies have been performed in an aluminum (Al)/tris(8-hydroxy-quinolinolato)aluminum (Alq3)/magnesium (Mg):silver (Ag) single-layer organic light-emitting diode (OLED). Semiconductor textbook theories, such as Fowler–Nordheim (FN) model for tunneling injection or Richardson–Schottky (RS) model for thermionic emission cannot account for the experimentally observed dependence of the injection current on electric field and temperature. Excellent agreement with experiment is provided by a Monte Carlo simulation of carrier injection from a metal into an organic dielectric with random hopping sites.