Low and small resistance hole-injection barrier for NPB realized by wide-gap p-type degenerate semiconductor, LaCuOSe:Mg

LaCuOSe:Mg is a wide-gap p-type semiconductor with a high conductivity and a large work function. Potential of LaCuOSe:Mg as a transparent hole-injection electrode of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) was examined by employing N,N′-diphenyl-N,N′-bis (1,1′-biphenyl)-4,4′-diamine (NPB) for a hole transport layer. Photoemission spectroscopy revealed that an oxygen plasma treated surface of LaCuOSe:Mg formed a hole-injection barrier as low as 0.3 eV, which is approximately a half of a conventional ITO/NPB interface. Hole-only devices composed of a LaCuOSe:Mg/NPB/Al structure showed a low threshold voltage ∼0.2 V and high-density current drivability of 250 mA cm−2 at 2 V, which is larger by two orders of magnitude than that of ITO/NPB/Al devices. These results demonstrate that LaCuOSe:Mg has great potential as an efficient transparent anode for OLEDs and other organic electronic devices.