Organic electroluminescent elements

• US 5,601,903 A
• Filed: 08/25/1994
• Issued: 02/11/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Fujii, Takanori, Sano, Takeshi, Shibata, Kenichi, Fujita, Masayuki, Hamada, Yuji
• Primary Examiner(s): Ryan, Patrick
• Assistant Examiner(s): Yamnitzky, Marie R.
• Application Number:
  US08/295,548
• Time in Patent Office: 901 Days
• Field of Search: 428/457, 428/689, 428/690, 428/704, 428/917, 428/212, 313/502, 313/504, 313/506
• US Class Current: 428/212
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 33/12 Light sources with substantially two-dimensional radiating surfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 33/14 characterised by the chemical or physical composition or the arrangement of the electroluminescent material , or by the simultaneous addition of the electroluminescent material in or onto the light source
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 50/11 characterised by the electroluminescent [EL] layers
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 50/155 comprising dopants
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 50/165 comprising dopants
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 428/917 Electroluminescent
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/24942 including components having same physical characteristic in differing degree
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/31678 Of metal

Abstract

An organic EL element that exhibits excellent durability by reducing the amount of accumulated carriers and curbing degradation by heat generated while the organic EL element is driven. The organic EL element comprises a pair of a hole injecting electrode and an electron injecting electrode sandwiching an organic luminous layer and an organic carrier transport layer placed one on top of the other to have a boundary therebetween, characterized in that either the organic luminous layer or the organic carrier transport layer, whichever is placed closer to the hole injecting electrode, is doped with a first organic material, the first organic material being made of at least one substance, a minimum level of a conducting band of the first organic material being lower than a minimum level of a conducting band of a material forming the layer to be doped with the first organic material, and the other layer which is placed closer to the electron injecting electrode is doped with a second organic material, the second organic material being made of at least one substance, a maximum level of a valence band of the second organic material being higher than a maximum level of a valence band of the other layer to be doped with the second organic material.

Claims

1. An organic EL element comprising a pair of a hole injecting electrode and an electron injecting electrode sandwiching an organic luminous layer and an organic carrier transport layer placed one on top of the other to have a boundary between the organic luminous layer and the organic carrier transport layer, wherein

one of the organic luminous layer and the organic carrier transport layer, whichever is placed closer to the hole injecting electrode, is doped with a first organic material, the first organic material being made of at least one substance, a minimum level of a conducting band of the first organic material being lower than a minimum level of a conducting band of the layer which is doped with the first organic material.

2. The organic EL element of claim 1, wherein the doped area of the organic carrier transport layer or the organic luminous layer is in contact with the boundary.

3. The organic EL element of claim 2, wherein the minimum level of the conducting band of the first organic material is equal to or lower than a minimum level of the conducting band of one of the organic luminous layer and the organic carrier transport layer, whichever has a lower minimum level of the conducting band.

4. The organic EL element of claim 2, wherein the first organic material is selected from a group consisting of rubrene, tris(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum, 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-methyl-6-(4-dimethylaminostyryl)-4H-pyran, decacyclene, 1-ethyl-2-[(1-ethyl-2(1H )-quinolylidene)methyl]quinolinium iodide, naphthacene, 9,10-diphenylanthracene, which are expressed as Chemical Formulas 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, and 107, respectively ##STR11##

5. The organic EL element of claim 2, wherein the organic carrier transport layer is an organic hole transport layer, whereby the hole injecting electrode, organic hole transport layer, organic luminous layer, and electron injecting electrode are sequentially layered to form the organic EL element.

6. The organic EL element of claim 5, wherein the first organic material includes a fluorescent material, and a maximum level of a valence band of the fluorescent material is equal to or higher than a maximum level of a valence band of the organic hole transport layer.

7. The organic EL element of claim 5, wherein the first organic material is selected from a group consisting of rubrene, tris(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum, 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-methyl-6-(4-dimethylaminostyryl)-4H-pyran, decacyclene, 1-ethyl-2-[(1-ethyl-2(1H)-quinolylidene)methyl]quinolinium iodide, naphthacene, 9,10-diphenylanthracene, which are expressed as Chemical Formulas 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, and 114, respectively ##STR12##

8. The organic EL element of claim 2, wherein the organic carrier transport layer is an organic electron transport layer, whereby the hole injecting electrode, organic luminous layer, organic electron transport layer, and electron injecting electrode are layered to form the organic EL element.

9. The organic EL element of claim 8, wherein the first organic material is selected from a group consisting of rubrene, tris(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum, 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-methyl-6-(4-dimethylaminostyryl)-4H-pyran, decacyclene, 1-ethyl-2-[(1-ethyl-2(1H)-quinolylidene)methyl]quinolinium iodide, naphthacene, 9,10-diphenylanthracene, which are expressed as Chemical Formulas 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, and 121, respectively ##STR13##

10. The organic EL element of claim 1, wherein one of the organic luminous layer and the organic carrier transport layer, whichever is placed closer to the electron injecting electrode, is doped with a second organic material, the second organic material being made of at least one substance, a maximum level of a valence band of the second organic material being higher than a maximum level of a valence band of the layer which is doped with the second organic material.

11. An organic EL element comprising a hole injecting electrode, an organic hole transport layer, an organic luminous layer, an organic electron transport layer, and an electron injecting electrode, the organic luminous layer being in contact with the organic hole transport layer to form a first boundary, the organic electron transport layer being in contact with the organic luminous layer to form a second boundary, wherein:

an area where the organic hole transport layer is in contact with the first boundary is doped with a first organic material, the first organic material being made of at least one substance, a minimum level of a conducting band of the first organic material being lower than a minimum level of a conducting band of the organic hole transport layer.

12. The organic EL element of claim 11, wherein the first organic material is selected from a group consisting of rubrene, tris(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum, 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-methyl-6-(4-dimethylaminostyryl)-4H-pyran, decacyclene, 1-ethyl-2-[(1-ethyl-2(1H)-quinolylidene )methyl]quinolinium iodide, naphthacene, 9,10-diphenylanthracene, which are expressed as Chemical Formulas 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, and 128, respectively ##STR14##

13. The organic EL element of claim 11, wherein an area where the organic luminous layer is in contact with the first boundary is doped with a second organic material, the second organic material being made of at least one substance, a maximum level of a valence band of the second organic material being higher than a maximum level of a valence band of the organic luminous layer.

14. The organic EL element of claim 11, wherein an area where the organic electron transport layer is in contact with the second boundary is doped with a second organic material, the second organic material being made of at least one substance, a maximum level of a valence band of the second organic material being higher than a maximum level of a valence band of the organic electron transport layer.