Robust, Narrow-Band Nanorods LEDs with Luminous Efficacy > 200 lm/W: Next-Generation of Efficient Solid-State Lighting.

Energy-efficient white light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are in high demand across the society. Despite the significant advancements in the modern lighting industry based on solid-state electronics and inorganic phosphor, solid-state lighting (SSL) continues to pursue improved efficiency, saturated color performance, and longer lifetime. Here in this article, robust, narrow emission band nanorods (NRs) are disclosed with tailored wavelengths, aiming to enhance the color rendering index (CRI) and luminous efficacy (LE). The fabricated lighting device consists of NRs of configuration CdSe/ZnxCd1-xS/ZnS, which can independently tune CRI R1-R9 values and maximize the luminous efficacy. For general lighting, NRs with quantum yield (QY) up to 96% and 99% are developed, resulting in ultra-efficient LEDs reaching a record high luminous efficacy of 214 lm W-1 (certified by the National Accreditation Service). Furthermore, NRs are deployed onto mid-power (0.3 W@ 50 mA) LEDs, showing significantly enhanced long-term stability (T95 = 400 h @ 50 mA). With these astonishing properties, the proposed NRs can pave the way for efficient lighting with desired optical spectrum.

Ultralow Roll-Off Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Diodes Using Engineered Carrier Injection Layer.

Quantum dot (QD) light-emitting diodes (QLEDs) have attracted extensive attention due to their high color purity, solution-processability, and high brightness. Due to extensive efforts, the external quantum efficiency (EQE) of QLEDs has approached the theoretical limit. However, because of the efficiency roll-off, the high EQE can only be achieved at relatively low luminance, hindering their application in high-brightness devices such as near-to-eye displays and lighting applications. Here, this article reports an ultralow roll-off QLED that is achieved by simultaneously blocking electron leakage and enhancing the hole injection, thereby shifting the recombination zone back to the emitting QDs layer. These devices maintain EQE over 20.6% up to 1000 mA cm-2 current density, dropping only by ≈5% from the peak EQE of 21.6%, which is the highest value ever reported for the bottom-emitting red QLEDs. Furthermore, the maximum luminance of the optimal device reaches 320 000 cd m-2 , 2.7 times higher than the control device (Lmax : 128 000 cd m-2 ). A passive matrix (PM) QLED display panel with high brightness based on the optimized device structure is also demonstrated. The proposed approach advances the potential of QLEDs to operate efficiently in high-brightness scenarios.

Solution-Processed Red, Green, and Blue Quantum Rod Light-Emitting Diodes.

Solution-processed semiconductor nanocrystals are evolving as potential candidates for future display and lighting applications owing to their size-tunable emission, ultrasaturated colors, and compatibility with large-area flexible substrates. Among them, quantum rods (QRs) are emerging materials for optoelectronic applications, offering polarized emission, high light outcoupling efficiency, color purity, and better stability in solid films. However, synthesizing QRs covering the full visible wavelength region has been a big challenge, particularly in the blue range. Herein, we report for the first time the synthesis of red CdSe/CdS, green CdSe/ZnxCd1-xS/ZnS, and blue CdSe/ZnxCd1-xS/ZnS QRs and their application in red, green, and blue QR-based light-emitting diodes (QR-LEDs). We have improved the charge injection balance into the QRs through embedding a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) layer between the emissive and electron transport layers. The thin PMMA electron-blocking layer (EBL) suppresses the excessive electron flux and thus promotes charge injection balance and pushes the recombination zone back to the QR layer, resulting in 1.35×, 1.2×, and 1.7× peak external quantum efficiency improvement for red, green, and blue QR-LEDs, respectively. The efficiency roll-off of green and blue QR-LEDs with an EBL is less than 50% at maximum current density. The proposed red, green, and blue QR-LEDs open up an avenue toward further improving the light source efficiency and stability focusing on real device applications.

Quantum-Rod On-Chip LEDs for Display Backlights with Efficacy of 149 lm W-1 : A Step toward 200 lm W-1.

Efficient white light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with an efficacy of 200 lm W-1 are much desirable for lighting and displays. The phosphor-based LEDs in use today for display applications offer poor color saturation. Intensive efforts have been made to replace the phosphor with quantum-dot-based downconverters, but the efficiency and stability of these devices are still in their infancy. Quantum rods (QRs), nanoparticles with an elongated shape, show superior properties such as relatively larger Stokes shifts, polarized emission, and high light out-coupling efficiency in the solid-state. However, these QRs usually suffer from poor optical quality for PL wavelengths < 550 nm. Herein, a gradient alloyed CdSe/Znx Cd1- x S/ZnS and CdSe/CdS/ZnS core/shell/shell QR downconverters showing high efficacy LEDs covering a wide color gamut are reported. These QRs show high stability and a precisely tunable photoluminescence peak. The engineered shell thickness suppresses energy transfer and thus maintains the high quantum yield in the solid-state (81%). These QR-based LEDs attain an efficacy of 149 lm W-1 (@10mA) and wide color gamut (118% NTSC), which is exceedingly higher than state-of-the-art quantum dots and phosphor-based on-chip LEDs.

Influence of Ultra-Thin Ge3N4 Passivation Layer on Structural, Interfacial, and Electrical Properties of HfO2/Ge Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Devices.

We report the effects of the nitride passivation layer on the structural, electrical, and interfacial properties of Ge metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices with a hafnium oxide (HfO2) gate dielectric layer deposited on p-type 〈100〉 Ge substrates. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis confirmed the chemical states and formation of HfO2/Ge3N4 on Ge. The interfacial quality and thickness of the layers grown on Ge were confirmed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. In addition, the effects of post-deposition annealing (PDA) on the HfO2/Ge3N4/Ge and HfO2/Ge samples at 400 °C in an (FG+O2) ambient atmosphere for 30 min were studied. After PDA, the HfO2/Ge3N4/Ge MOS device showed a higher dielectric constant (k) of ~21.48 and accumulation capacitance of 1.2 nF, smaller equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) of 1.2 nm, and lower interface trap density (Dit) of 4.9×1011 cm-2 eV-1 and oxide charges (Qeff) of 7.8×1012 cm-2 than the non-annealed sample. The I-V analysis showed that the gate leakage current density of the HfO2/Ge3N4/Ge sample (0.3-1 nA cm-2 at Vg = 1 V) was half of that of the HfO2/Ge sample. Moreover, the barrier heights of the samples were extracted from the Fowler-Nordheim plots. These results indicated that nitride passivation is crucial to improving the structural, interfacial, and electrical properties of Ge-based MOS devices.