Fabrication and optimization of light emitting devices with core-shell quantum dots

Abstract

Quantum dot light emitting devices (QD-LEDs) are promising options for the next generation of solid state lighting, color displays, and other optoelectronic applications. Overcoating quantum dots (QDs) -- semiconducting nanocrystals of CdSe, PbS, or another similar compound -- with a wide band-gap "shell" has recently been shown to significantly boost QD-LED performance and yield the most efficient accent QD-LEDs to date. This thesis studies fabrication techniques to make bright, efficient QD-LEDs with these "core-shell" QDs. The first part studies the electrophoretic deposition (EPD) of CdSe/ZnS QDs. QD-LEDs conventionally utilize a QD lm that is deposited via spin-casting, a reliable but highly unscalable technique for the deposition of thin, smooth films of QDs for QD-LED applications. Potential advantages of EPD include the ability for deposition onto a variety of substrate shapes and more energetically favorable QD packing. Devices made with EPD QD films exhibit peak efficiencies comparable to those of devices with a spun-cast QD layer and turn-on voltages surprisingly lower than the optical band-gap of the QDs. These results suggest that EPD is a viable alternative to spin-casting for the processing of QD-LEDs. The second part of this thesis explores the role of core-shell QDs in creating bright, efficient LEDs in the near-infrared ([lambda] >1 [mu]m) regime. Infrared QD-LEDs with record brightness and efficiencies are obtained by using QDs in which lead sulfide (PbS) cores are overcoated with a cadmium sulfide (CdS) shell. In situ photoluminescence quantum yield measurements confirm that the QD shell plays a significant role in shielding the emissive QD core from external quenching mechanisms. Finally, fabrication and material considerations for the non-QD layers in the modern QD-LED structure are also discussed. This thesis analyzes different film formation techniques for zinc oxide (ZnO), the electron transport layer in the QD-LEDs, and different materials and thicknesses for the organic hole transport layer.