Characterization of copper selenide thin film hole-injection layers deposited at room temperature for use with p-type organic semiconductors.

Copper selenide, CuxSe(x∼2), was examined as a hole-injection layer for low-temperature organic devices. Crystalline CuxSe films grown at room temperature with atomically flat surfaces exhibited metallic conduction with a high electrical conductivity of 4.5×103 S/cm, a hole concentration of 1.4×1022 cm-3, and a mobility of 2.0 cm2/(V s). Analysis of the free carrier absorption using the Drude model estimated the effective mass of a hole as 1.0me. Photoemission spectroscopy measurements of the interfaces between CuxSe and organic hole transport layers, N,N′-bis(naphthalen-1-yl)-N,N′-bis(phenyl) benzidine (NPB) and copper phthalocyanine (CuPc), verified that the hole-injection barriers of these interfaces (0.4 eV for NPB and 0.3 eV for CuPc) are smaller than that of a conventional indium tin oxide (ITO) hole-injection electrode/NPB interface (0.6 eV) but are comparable to that of an ITO electrode/CuPc interface (0.3 eV). Hole-only devices using the CuxSe layer as a hole-injection anode exhibited very low threshold voltages (0.4–0.5 V) and nearly Ohmic characteristics. The NPB layer on the CuxSe layer was found to be highly doped at 1017–1019 cm-3, probably due to copper diffusion, while the CuPc layer is nearly intrinsic with a doping concentration lower than 1015 cm-3. These results indicated that a CuxSe film combined with CuPc is a promising candidate for a low-voltage hole-injection anode or a buffer layer in low-temperature devices such as organic light-emitting diodes and thin film transistors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]