Tuning the energy transfer in Ruddlesden-Popper perovskites phases through isopropylammonium addition - towards efficient blue emitters.

Here we demonstrate blue LEDs with a peak wavelength of 481 nm, with outstanding colour purity of up to 88% (CIE coordinates (0.1092, 0.1738)), an external quantum yield of 5.2% and a luminance of 8260 cd m-2. These devices are based on quasi-2D PEA2(Cs0.75MA0.25)Pb2Br7, which is cast from solutions containing isopropylammonium (iPAm). iPAm as additive assist in supressing the formation of bulk-like phases, as pointed out by both photophysical and structural characterization. Additionally, the study of the excitation dynamics demonstrates a hindering of the energy transfer to domains of lower energy that generally undermines the performance and emission characteristics of blue-emitting LEDs based on quasi-2D perovskites. The achieved narrow distribution of quantum well sizes and the hindered energy transfer result in a thin film photoluminescence quantum yield exceeding 60%. Our work demonstrates the great potential to tailor the composition and the structure of thin films based on Ruddlesden-Popper phases to boost performance of optoelectronic devices - specifically blue perovskite LEDs.

Fabrication of Li-Doped NiO Thin Films by Ultrasonic Spray Pyrolysis and Its Application in Light-Emitting Diodes.

The fabrication of NiO films by different routes is important to extend and improve their applications as hole-transporting layers in organic and inorganic optoelectronic devices. Here, an automated ultrasonic pyrolysis spray method was used to fabricate NiO and Li-doped NiO thin films using nickel acetylacetonate and lithium acetate dihydrate as metal precursor and dimethylformamide as solvent. The effect of the amount of lithium in the precursor solution on the structural, morphological, optical, and electrical properties were studied. XRD results reveal that all the samples are polycrystalline with cubic structure and crystallite sizes in the range of 21 to 25 nm, without any clear trend with the Li doping level. AFM analysis shows that the crystallites form round-shaped aggregates and all the films have low roughness. The optical transmittance of the films reaches values of 60% to 77% with tendency upward as Li content is increased. The electrical study shows that the films are p-type, with the carrier concentration, resistivity, and carrier mobility depending on the lithium doping. NiO:Li (10%) films were successfully incorporated into inorganic light emitting diodes together with Mn-doped ZnS and ZnO:Al films, all deposited on ITO by the same ultrasonic spray pyrolysis technique.

Experimental Study of the Influence of CH4 and H2 on the Conformation, Chemical Composition, and Luminescence of Silicon Quantum Dots Inlaid in Silicon Carbide Thin Films Grown by Remote Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition.

Silicon carbide (SiC) has become an extraordinary photonic material. Achieving reproducible self-formation of silicon quantum dots (SiQDs) within SiC matrices could be beneficial for producing electroluminescent devices operating at high power, high temperatures, or high voltages. In this work, we use a remote plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition system to grow SiC thin films. We identified that a particular combination of 20 sccm of CH4 and a range of 58-100 sccm of H2 mass flow with 600 °C annealing allows the abundant and reproducible self-formation of SiQDs within the SiC films. These SiQDs dramatically increase the photoluminescence-integrated intensity of our SiC films. The photoluminescence of our SiQDs shows a normal distribution with positive skewness and well-defined intensity maxima in blue regions of the electromagnetic spectrum (439-465 nm) and is clearly perceptible to the naked eye.

Requirements and applications of accurate modeling of the optical transmission of transparent conducting coatings.

A comprehensive model for the optical transmission is constructed and used to investigate the requirements for fitting accurately the experimental data of the optical transmittance at normal incidence of transparent conducting coatings of ZnO:Al deposited on glass substrates by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis. The model takes into account the Urbach tail absorption edge at the low wavelength region, the contribution of free carrier concentration to the weak absorption in the visible and near-infrared ranges, and the effect of scattering of light originated by the surface roughness of the films. The carrier concentration of the ZnO:Al films was measured experimentally by the Hall effect and dc-electrical conductivity measurements in the Van der Paw configuration. It is shown that all mentioned physical effects must be included in order to fit accurately the transmittance spectrum in the VIS-NIR spectral window. The full expression for the optical transmittance was used for choosing the optimal thickness of these films as transparent conductive contacts and the calculation of the figure of merit.

Enhanced Electroluminescence from Silicon Quantum Dots Embedded in Silicon Nitride Thin Films Coupled with Gold Nanoparticles in Light Emitting Devices.

Nowadays, the use of plasmonic metal layers to improve the photonic emission characteristics of several semiconductor quantum dots is a booming tool. In this work, we report the use of silicon quantum dots (SiQDs) embedded in a silicon nitride thin film coupled with an ultra-thin gold film (AuNPs) to fabricate light emitting devices. We used the remote plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition technique (RPECVD) in order to grow two types of silicon nitride thin films. One with an almost stoichiometric composition, acting as non-radiative spacer; the other one, with a silicon excess in its chemical composition, which causes the formation of silicon quantum dots imbibed in the silicon nitride thin film. The ultra-thin gold film was deposited by the direct current (DC)-sputtering technique, and an aluminum doped zinc oxide thin film (AZO) which was deposited by means of ultrasonic spray pyrolysis, plays the role of the ohmic metal-like electrode. We found that there is a maximum electroluminescence (EL) enhancement when the appropriate AuNPs-spacer-SiQDs configuration is used. This EL is achieved at a moderate turn-on voltage of 11 V, and the EL enhancement is around four times bigger than the photoluminescence (PL) enhancement of the same AuNPs-spacer-SiQDs configuration. From our experimental results, we surmise that EL enhancement may indeed be due to a plasmonic coupling. This kind of silicon-based LEDs has the potential for technology transfer.

Optical Absorption and Visible Photoluminescence from Thin Films of Silicon Phthalocyanine Derivatives.

The interest of microelectronics industry in new organic compounds for the manufacture of luminescent devices has increased substantially in the last decade. In this paper, we carried out a study of the usage feasibility of three organic bidentate ligands (2,6-dihydroxyanthraquinone, anthraflavic acid and potassium derivative salt of anthraflavic acid) for the synthesis of an organic semiconductor based in silicon phthalocyanines (SiPcs). We report the visible photoluminescence (PL) at room temperature obtained from thermal-evaporated thin films of these new materials. The surface morphology of these films was analyzed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). AFM indicated that the thermal evaporation technique is an excellent resource in order to obtain low thin film roughness when depositing these kinds of compounds. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectroscopy was employed to investigate possible changes in the intra-molecular bonds and to identify any evidence of crystallinity in the powder compounds and in the thin films after their deposition. FTIR showed that there was not any important change in the samples after the thermal deposition. The absorption coefficient (α) in the absorption region reveals non-direct transitions. Furthermore, the PL of all the investigated samples were observed with the naked eye in a bright background and also measured by a spectrofluorometer. The normalized PL spectra showed a Stokes shift ≈ 0.6 eV in two of our three samples, and no PL emission in the last one. Those results indicate that the Vis PL comes from a recombination of charge carriers between conduction band and valence band preceded by a non-radiative relaxation in the conduction band tails.

Determination of the optical GAP in thin films of amorphous dilithium phthalocyanine using the Tauc and Cody models.

Semiconducting thin films were grown on quartz substrates and crystalline silicon wafers, using dilithium phthalocyanine and the organic ligands 2,6-dihydroxyanthraquinone and 2,6-diaminoanthraquinone as the starting compounds. The films, thus obtained, were characterized by Fourier Transform infrared (FTIR), fast atomic bombardment (FAB+) mass and ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopies. The surface morphology of these films was analyzed by means of atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was found that the temperature-dependent electric current in all cases showed a semiconductor behavior with conductivities on the order of 10⁻6·S cm⁻¹, whereas the highest value corresponded to the thin film based upon the bidentate amine. The Tauc and Cody optical band gap values of thin films were calculated from the absorption coefficients and were found to be around 1.5 eV, with another strong band between 2.3 and 2.43 eV, arising from non-direct transitions. The curvature in the Tauc plot influencing the determination of the optical gap, the Tauc optical gap corresponding to the thicker film is smaller. The dependence of the Cody optical gap on the film thickness was negligible.