Electrical and Optical Properties of Semitransparent Metal Electrodes for Top-emission Organic Light-emitting Diodes

Electrical and optical properties of semitransparent Ag and Al layer were studied, which are used for the electrodes in top-emission organic light-emitting diodes. Sheet resistance and transmittance of visible light through a thin layer were measured and analyzed. Several thin metal layers of Ag and Al were deposited onto a glass substrate up to a thickness of 50 nm using a thermal evaporation. Sheet resistance measurements show that a layer thickness is needed more than 15 nm and 20 nm for Ag and Al, respectively, when a proper sheet resistance is assumed to be less than . From the measurements of transmittance of visible light through a thin-metal layer, metallic behavior was observed when the layer thickness is over 25 nm for both films. Thus, from a study of sheet resistance and transmittance of visible light, a minimum proper thickness of semitransparent metal layer is 20 nm and 25 nm for Ag and Al, respectively.