Enhancing outcoupling efficiency of indium-tin-oxide-free organic light-emitting diodes via nanostructured high index layers

We fabricated organic light-emitting diodes with one-dimensional Bragg gratings as light extraction elements for substrate and waveguide modes. A Ta2O5 layer was introduced to obtain a high refractive index contrast to the subsequent anode layer. As anode we employed a highly conductive polymer. Laser interference lithography and physical plasma etching were used to pattern gratings into the Ta2O5 layer with a lattice constant of 370 nm and various grating depths. Mainly attributed to the outcoupling of the substrate modes, the structured devices exhibit a luminous flux which is up to four times higher compared to the unstructured reference devices.