LIGHT EMITTING ELEMENT

• US 20120032585A1
• Filed: 07/07/2011
• Published: 02/09/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Yamada, Daisuke
• Application Number:
  US13/177,817
• Publication Number:
  US 20120032585A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 313/509
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 50/858 comprising refractive means, e.g. lenses
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 50/86 Arrangements for improving contrast, e.g. preventing reflection of ambient light

Abstract

Provided is a light emitting element capable of reducing external light reflectance while maintaining high light extraction efficiency, having a structure including a back surface member provided on a side of an emission layer opposite to a light extraction side, the back surface member including in order from the emission side: a dielectric layer having a smaller effective refractive index than that of the emission layer; and a metal fine patterned layer interacting with light entering a metal fine patterned layer to change level of reflectance, and back surface member reflectance with respect to light with an incident angle larger than the critical angle determined by conditions for total reflection at an interface between the emission and the dielectric layer is higher than back surface member reflectance with respect to light with an incident angle smaller than the critical angle.

Claims

1. A light emitting element having a structure in which an emission layer is excited to emit light by an excitation source and the light is extracted from the emission layer to an outside,

the light emitting element comprising a back surface member, which is provided on a side of the emission layer opposite to a light extraction side,

wherein the back surface member comprises in order from the emission layer side:

a dielectric layer which has a smaller effective refractive index than an effective refractive index of the emission layer; and

a metal fine patterned layer which interacts with light that is emitted from the emission layer to enter the metal fine patterned layer via the dielectric layer, to thereby change level of reflectance according to a wavelength of the light, and

wherein, when a critical angle determined by conditions for total reflection at an interface between the emission layer and the dielectric layer is expressed by the following expression (1), a back surface member reflectance with respect to light with an incident angle larger than the critical angle is higher than a back surface member reflectance with respect to light with an incident angle smaller than the critical angle.

2. The light emitting element according to claim 1,

wherein the dielectric layer is structured to have a smaller effective refractive index than the effective refractive index of the emission layer so that the light entering the dielectric layer at the critical angle or larger is totally reflected while the light entering the dielectric layer at the angle smaller than the critical angle is transmitted, and

wherein the metal fine patterned layer interacts with the light entering the dielectric layer at the angle smaller than the critical angle to be transmitted through the dielectric layer.

3. The light emitting element according to claim 2, wherein the reflectance obtained by the interaction with the metal fine patterned layer is high with respect to light at a center wavelength of an emission band of the light emitted from the emission layer and transmitted through the dielectric layer, and lower with respect to light at a wavelength different from the center wavelength than the reflectance with respect to the light at the center wavelength.

4. The light emitting element according to claim 3, wherein the reflectance with respect to the light at the center wavelength of the emission band is higher than reflectance with respect to light at a wavelength other than the emission band.

5. The light emitting element according to claim 1, wherein the metal fine patterned layer comprises metal structures which are regularly arranged on a side of the dielectric layer opposite to the light extraction side.

6. The light emitting element according to claim 1, wherein the metal fine patterned layer comprises a metal layer including apertures which are regularly provided on a side of the dielectric layer opposite to the light extraction side.

7. The light emitting element according to claim 1, wherein the metal fine patterned layer serves also as an electrode to be applied with an external voltage.

8. The light emitting element according to claim 1, wherein the dielectric layer has a thickness larger than a value obtained by dividing a wavelength of the light emitted from the emission layer by the effective refractive index of the dielectric layer.

9. The light emitting element according to claim 1, further comprising a graded-index diffraction element, which is provided on the light extraction side of the emission layer.

10. The light emitting element according to claim 1, wherein the critical angle is smaller than 60 degrees.

11. The light emitting element according to claim 1, wherein a difference between the critical angle and a maximum refraction angle θ

1 expressed by the following expression (2) is smaller than 30 degrees.

12. The light emitting element according to claim 1,

wherein the excitation source comprises electrons emitted from an electron source, and

wherein the electrons emitted from the electron source are radiated to the emission layer from the side opposite to the light extraction side.

13. The light emitting element according to claim 1,

wherein the excitation source comprises a current to be injected, and

wherein the emission layer is formed of an organic material.