Improved initial drop in operational lifetime of blue phosphorescent organic light emitting device fabricated under ultra high vacuum condition

A blue phosphorescent organic light emitting device fabricated under the ultra high vacuum (UHV) condition of 6.5 × 10−7 Pa decreases the initial luminance drop upon lifetesting under a constant dc current of 15 mA/cm2 by 3 times compared to a device fabricated under a high vacuum (HV) condition of 7.6 × 10−6 Pa resulting in a 23% increase in half lifetime. We calculate a water content of 10−4 mol. % in the UHV device emissive layer (EML) and 10−2 mol. % in the HV device EML. We discuss the effects of water on luminance loss and voltage rise for the devices.