Electronic Structure of the Tris(8-quinolinolato)aluminum (III) ($Alq_3$) / Ba Interfaces and Light Out-coupling Characteristics of Organic Light-emitting Diodes Based on these Interfaces

We investigated the device performance for organic light-emitting characteristics based on the electron-injecting interfacial characteristics of Ba deposited on tris(8-quinolinolato)aluminum (III) ($Alq_3$) with a change of a Ba coverage. The device performance of organic light-emitting diodes with Ba coverage of 1 nm significantly improved by the lowering of the electron-injecting barrier height that was induced by electronic charge transfer. However, the device with Ba coverage above 1 nm showed poor device performance. The spectroscopic results indicated that the $Alq_3$ molecules started to decompose by the reaction between Ba and the phenoxide moiety of the molecule.