Improvement of electrical characteristics and wet etching procedures for InGaTiO electrodes in organic light-emitting diodes through hydrogen doping.

We investigated the effect of hydrogen doping on characteristics of InGaTiO (IGTO) electrode with high conductivity and transmittance during sputtering process. After hydrogen doping, the 300 nm-thick IGTO:H electrode showed lower sheet resistance of 13.79 Ω/square compared to sheet resistance (69.2 Ω/square) of pure IGTO electrode without change of optical transmittance. In addition, wet etching reaction rate of IGTO:H electrode for patterning process was significantly accelerated after hydrogen doping. Possible explanation for hydrogen doping effect on electrical properties and wet etching process of the IGTO:H electrode was suggested. The doped hydrogen influenced the electrical characteristics through the passivation of dangling bonds and oxygen vacancies. Moreover, it significantly impacts crystalline structure, consequently altering the etching rate. Using patterned IGTO:H electrodes, we fabricated red organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) to show feasibility of the IGTO:H electrodes. External quantum efficiency and current efficiency of the red OLED with IGTO:H (10%) were higher than IGTO electrode without hydrogen doping, indicating that hydrogen doping is an effective method to improve the film properties and IGTO:H electrode can serve as a prospective transparent anode for both flexible and rigid OLEDs. [Display omitted] • Highly conductive and transparent hydrogen-doped InGaTiO electrodes (IGTO:H). • Possible mechanism of the effect of hydrogen doping on the electrical properties and wet-etching rate of IGTO:H electrode. • IGTO:H electrodes exhibit enhanced electrical and mechanical properties after hydrogen doping. • Transparent IGTO:H electrodes for red organic light emitting diodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]