Cathode diffusion and degradation mechanism of polymeric light emitting devices

Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy was applied to investigate the diffusion of metals into polymeric light emitting layer by a continuous device operation. The change of substrate (indium/tin) signal as well as calcium penetration after device operation was conspicuous using pristine light emitting polymer, whereas annealed device above polymer’s glass transition temperature indicated almost no migration of calcium. This can be a direct evidence of the molecular conformation and rigidity change of light emitting polymer, which affects the degradation behavior by the metal diffusion into organic thin film.