The present disclosure refers to an organic electronic device, and a method for producing the organic electronic device.

Background

Organic electronic devices may be provided with a charge generation layer which may also be referred to as pn-junction. Such charge generation layer may be provided as part of a tandem device which comprises at least two light emitting layers, thereby forming a tandem organic light emitting device (tandem OLED). The charge generation layer comprises, a n- type sub-layer comprising a redox n-dopant, and a p-type sub-layer, comprising a p-dopant. Charge generation layers comprising known state-of-art organic p-dopants, e.g. quinoid compounds or radialene compounds, are known.

US 2016/005991 describes a tandem device, wherein the charge generation layer comprises a buffer layer consisting of fullerene C60 between a first CGL formed of Alq3 doped with alkali metal and a second CGL consisting of HAT-CN. WO 2010/029542 A1 relates to methods for producing p-doped organic semiconductor material with a fullerene derivative having at least one electron-withdrawing substituent covalently attached thereto, and semiconductor compositions prepared thereby are provided. Also provided are electronic devices, such as transistors, solar-cells, illuminating devices, OLEDs and detectors, comprised of these p-doped organic semiconductor materials.

There remains a need to improve the performance organic electronic devices comprising a charge generation layer, in particular of organic light emitting devices.

Summary

It is an object of the present disclosure to provide an organic electronic device having an improved performance, in particular operating voltage, the organic electronic device comprising a charge generation layer. For solving the problem, an organic electronic device and a method for producing an organic electronic device according to the independent claims 1 and 14, respectively, are provided. Alternative embodiments are disclosed in dependent claims. According to an aspect, an organic electronic device is provided, comprising a first electrode; a second electrode; and a charge generation layer arranged between the first and the second electrode. The charge generation layer comprises a n-type sub-layer comprising at least one redox n-dopant, and a p-type sub-layer comprising a fullerene compound, wherein the fullerene compound comprises at least one electron withdrawing substituent selected from F, CI, Br, I, CN, halogen-substituted and / or CN-substituted group containing 1 to 20 carbon atoms. According to a further aspect, a method for producing an organic electronic device is provided, the method comprising providing a substrate, and producing a stack of layers on the substrate, the stack of layers comprising a first electrode; a second electrode; and a charge generation layer arranged between the first and the second electrode. The charge generation layer is comprising a n-type sub-layer comprising at least one redox n-dopant, and a p-type sub-layer comprising a fullerene compound, wherein the fullerene compound comprises at least one electron withdrawing substituent selected from F, CI, Br, I, CN, halogen-substituted and / or CN-substituted group containing 1 to 20 carbon atoms. The method further comprises the steps of providing the substrate and the first electrode, depositing a plurality of layers arranged on the first electrode, the plurality of layers comprising the charge generation layer, and depositing the second electrode on the plurality of layers.

According to another embodiment, one or more organic electronic devices may form a display device or lighting device. The at least one redox n-dopant may by an elemental metal. In one embodiment, the at least one redox n-dopant may by an electropositive metal selected from alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, and rare earth metals. In an alternative embodiment, the at least one redox n- dopant may by selected from Li, Na, K, Rb. Cs, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Eu and Yb. In another alternative embodiment, the at least one redox n-dopant may by selected from Li, Na, Mg, Ca, Sr and Yb. In still another alternative embodiment, the at least one redox n-dopant may by selected from Li and Yb.

According to another embodiment, the fullerene compound comprising at least one electron withdrawing substituent may be a p-dopant. The fuilerene compound may comprise at least two electron withdrawing substituents independently selected from F, CI, Br, I, CN , halogen-substituted and / or CN-substituted group containing 1 to 20 carbon atoms, preferably from F, CN , halogen-substituted and / or CN- substituted group containing 1 to 6 carbon atoms, more preferred from F, CN or halogen- substituted group containing 1 to 4 carbon atoms. The fuilerene compound may comprise at least two electron withdrawing substituents, wherein each electron withdrawing substituent is independently selected from F and CN . For example, in case of only two substituents, possible combinations thereof, such as F+F, F+CN, CN+CN. may be provided. The fuilerene compound may have formula C _x F _y , wherein x is an integer from 60 to 120 and F is an integer equal or higher than x / 2.

In one embodiment, the fuilerene compound may have formula C ₆ oF ₃₆ , CeoF^ or C70F54, preferably the fuilerene compound is selected from C _e oF ₈

According to another embodiment, the organic electronic device further comprises at least one, preferably two emitting layers. The charge generation layer may be arranged between the first emitting layer and the second emitting layer. According to another embodiment, the charge generation layer is in direct contact with the first and / or second electrode. In general, with regard to the present application, the wording direct contact refers to a touch contact.

The charge generation layer may be provided with at least one of the following: the n-type sub-layer comprises at least one electron transport matrix compound; and the p-type sublayer comprises at least one hole transport matrix compound.

The at least one hole transport matrix compound may be an organic compound. The at least one hole transport matrix compound may be an organic compound comprising a conjugated system of at least 6, alternatively at least 10 delocalized electrons. In an alternative embodiment, the at least one hole transport matrix compound may comprise at least one triaryl amine structural moiety. In another alternative embodiment, the at least one hole transport matrix compound may comprise at least two triaryl amine structural moieties. The at least one electron transport matrix compound may be an organic compound. The at least one electron transport matrix compound may comprise a conjugated system of at least 6, alternatively at least 10 delocalized electrons. In an alternative embodiment, the at least one electron transport matrix compound may comprise at least two aromatic or heteroaro- matic rings which are either linked by a covalent bond or condensed. In another embodiment, the at least one electron transport matrix compound may comprise at least one phenanthro- line structural moiety and / or at least one phosphine oxide structural moiety. Preferably, the electron transport matrix compound comprises at least two phenanthroline structural moieties.

Suitable electron matrix compounds are disclosed in EP 2 833 429 A1 , WO 201 1 /154131 A1 and WO 17/089399 A1 .

The n-type sub-layer may comprise a first n-type sub-layer arranged closer to the first electrode, and a second n-type sub-layer arranged closer to the second electrode. Further, the at least one redox n-dopant may be provided with a higher concentration in the second n-type sub-layer than in the first n-type sub-layer. The first and the second n-type sub-layers may be provided adjacent to each other, thereby providing direct contact between the first and the second n-type sub-layers. The first and the second n-type sub-layers of the n-type sub-layer may be provided with different concentration of the at least one redox n-dopant. For the at least one redox n-dopant, a dopant concentration gradient may be provided over the first and second n-type sub-layers, whereby the concentration of redox n-dopant is higher in the layer or section of the layer closer to the second electrode and lower in the layer or section of the layer closer to the first electrode.

In another embodiment, the n-type sub-layer may further comprise a metal selected from alkali, alkaline earth or rare earth metal, wherein the concentration of the metal is higher in the section closer to the second electrode and lower in the section closer to the first electrode. Preferably, the metal is selected from alkali metal, more preferred from Li.

An interlayer may be provided between the n-type sub-layer and the p-type sub-layer in the charge generation layer One or both layers may be in direct contact with the interlayer. The interlayer may comprise or consist of metal.

In another embodiment, the interlayer comprises or consists of the redox n-dopant. Preferably, the redox n-dopant in the n-type sublayer and the interlayer are selected the same. Ac- cording to another embodiment, the interlayer comprises or consists of Li, Al or Yb. For the organic electronic device the following may be provided: the first electrode is provided as an anode; a second electrode is provided as a cathode; the n-type sub-layer is arranged closer to the first electrode; and the p-type sub-layer is arranged closer to the second electrode.

The organic electronic device may comprise at least one first light emitting layer arranged between the first electrode and the n-type sub-layer, and at least one second light emitting layer arranged between the p-type sub-layer and the second electrode. In an embodiment, the organic electronic device is a tandem organic light emitting device. With regard to the tandem organic light emitting device, the alternative embodiments outlined above may be applied mutatis mutandis.

At least one of the at least one first light emitting layer or the at least one second light emitting layer may comprise a blue emitter. The blue emitter may be a blue fluorescent emitter. Preferably, the organic electronic device comprises one light emitting layer comprising a blue emitter and at least one light emitting layer comprising a yellow emitter.

An exemplary tandem OLED may consist of the following layers: an indium tin oxide (ITO) anode, a first (redox p-doped) hole injection layer, a first (undoped) hole transport layer, a first (undoped) electron blocking layer, a first emitting layer comprising a fluorescent blue emitter, a first electron transport layer (optionally comprising an electrical n-dopant) in contact with the n-CGL, a second (redox p-doped) hole injection layer in contact with the p-CGL, a second (undoped) hole transport layer, a second (undoped) electron blocking layer, a second emitting layer comprising a fluorescent blue emitter, a second electron transport layer (optionally comprising an electrical n-dopant) in contact with the cathode. Further charge injection or blocking layers may be added or omitted.

With regard to the method for producing the organic electronic device, the alternative embodiments outlined above may be applied mutatis mutandis. For example, the charge generation layer may be produced with an interlayer provided between the n-type sub-layer, and the p- type sub-layer.

The stack of layers may be produced by techniques known in the art as such. For example, one or more layers in the stack may be produced by vacuum thermal evaporation. With regard to the method of producing the organic electronic device, the depositing of the plurality of layers may comprise a step of depositing the p-type sub-layer, the depositing comprising evaporation and deposition of the fullerene compound in vacuum. Preferably, all layers are deposited in vacuum. In the context of the present invention, vacuum means a pressure of less than 10 ³ mbar.

Description of embodiments

Following, further embodiments are described by referring to figures.

Fig. 1 is a schematic representation of a layer stack of a tandem organic light emitting device;

Fig. 2 is a schematic representation of a layer stack of another a tandem organic light emitting device;

Fig. 3 is a schematic representation of a layer stack of a further a tandem organic light emitting device;

Fig. 4 is a graphical representation of current density in dependence on a voltage applied for a tandem organic light emitting device according to Example 1 , for the tandem device comprising as the p-dopant in the p-CGL compound PD-3, in comparison with the device comprising a state-of-art p-dopant PD-1 (see Table 1);

Fig. 5 is a graphical representation of current density in dependence on a voltage applied for a tandem organic light emitting device according to Example 2, for the tandem device comprising as the p-dopant in the p-CGL compound PD-3, in comparison with the device comprising a state-of-art p-dopant PD-1 (see Table 2);

Fig. 6 is a graphical representation of quantum efficiency in dependence on current density for the tandem organic light emitting devices according to description for Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a graphical representation of current density in dependence on a voltage applied for a tandem organic light emitting device according to Example 3, for the tandem device comprising as the p-dopant in the p-CGL compound PD-3, in comparison with the device comprising a state-of-art p-dopant PD-1 (see Table 3); and

Fig. 8 is a graphical representation of quantum efficiency in dependence on current density for the tandem organic light emitting devices according to description for Fig. 7.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic representation of a tandem organic light emitting device (tandem OLED). A stack of layers 1 provided on a substrate 2 comprises a first electrode 3, and a second electrode 4 provided as an anode and a cathode, respectively, in the embodiment depicted. There is a charge generation layer, also named CGL, 5 provided comprising a n-type sublayer 5a, and a p-type sub-layer 5b. A first hole injection layer 6, a first hole transport layer 7, and a first electron blocking layer 8 are provided between the anode 3 and a first emitting layer 9. A first electron transport layer 10 is provided between the first emitting layer 9 and the charge generation layer 5. A second hole injection layer 1 1 , second hole transport layer 12, and second electron blocking layer 13 are provided between the charge generation layer 5 and a second emitting layer 14. A sec- ond electron transport layer 15 is provided between the second emitting layer 14 and the cathode 4.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic representation of another tandem OLED. The stack of layers 1 provided on the substrate 2, in addition, comprises an interlayer 16.

Fig. 3 shows a schematic representation of a further tandem OLED. In the stack of layers 1 provided on the substrate 2 the n-type sublayer 5a of the charge generation layer 5 comprises a first n-type sublayer 5a 1 and a second n-type sublayer 5a2. In an alternative embodiment (not shown), the charge generation layer 5 of the tandem OLED in Fig. 5 may comprise the interlayer 16.

Following, referring to graphical representation in Fig. 4 to 8, alternative embodiments of an organic electronic device provided as a tandem OLED are described which in general, in the examples discussed, are provided with a layer structure as shown in Fig. 1. The performance of the organic electronic devices comprising a p-type sub-layer comprising a fulierene compound comprising 48 fluorine groups, named C ₅ oF ₄₈ or PD-3, is compared to analogous organic electronic devices comprising state-of-art p-type sublayer comprising quinone compound PD-1. For the different organic electronic devices, the performance has been studied compared to state of art p-dopants and p-dopants based on fullerenes comprising electron withdrawing groups in an organic electronic device provided as a tandem OLED.

Following, an embodiment of a general procedure for fabrication of organic electronic devic- es is described. OLEDs with two emitting layers were prepared to demonstrate the technical benefit of an organic electronic device comprising a charge generation layer according to the present invention. As proof-of-concept, the tandem OLEDs comprised two blue emitting layers. A 15Ω /cm ² glass substrate with 90 nm ITO (available from Corning Co.) was cut to a size of 50 mm x 50 mm x 0.7 mm, ultrasonically cleaned with isopropyl alcohol for 5 minutes and then with pure water for 5 minutes, and cleaned again with UV ozone for 30 minutes, to prepare a first electrode. The organic layers are deposited sequentially on the ITO layer at 10 ^'7 mbar, see Table 1 to 3 for compositions and layer thicknesses. In the Tables 1 to 3, c refers to the concentration, and d refers to the layer thickness.

Then, the cathode electrode layer is formed by evaporating aluminum at ultra-high vacuum of 10 ^"7 mbar and deposing the aluminum layer directly on the organic semiconductor layer. A thermal single co-evaporation of one or several metals is performed with a rate of 0, 1 to 10 nm/s (0.01 to 1 A/s) in order to generate a homogeneous cathode electrode with a thickness of 5 to 1000 nm. The thickness of the cathode electrode layer is 100 nm. The device is protected from ambient conditions by encapsulation of the device with a glass slide. Thereby, a cavity is formed, which comprises a getter material for further protection.

To assess the performance of the inventive examples compared to the prior art, the current efficiency is measured under ambient conditions (20°C). Current voltage measurements are performed using a Keithley 2400 source meter, and recorded in V.

Table 1 - Example 1

Layer Layer material c / [vol%] d / [nm] anode ITO 100 90 first hole injection layer F1 :PD-2 92:8 10 first hole transport layer F1 100 135 first electron blocking layer 2 100 10 first emitting layer ABH1 13: BD200 97:3 20 first electron transport layer F3: LiQ 50:50 25 n-type sub-layer F4 : Li 99:1 10 interlayer Metal (Li") 100 0.5

F1 :PD-1 or 94.5:5.5* 10 p-type sub-layer

F1 :PD-3 80:20 10 second hole transport layer F1 100 35 second electron blocking layer F2 100 10 second emitting layer ABH1 13: BD200 97:3 20 second electron transport layer F3 : LiQ 50:50 36 cathode Al 100 100

Table 2 - Example 2

Layer Layer material c [vol%] d [nm] anode ITO 100 90 first hole injection layer F1 :PD-2 92:8 10 first hole transport layer F1 100 135 first electron blocking layer F2 100 10 first emitting layer ABH1 13: BD200 97:3 20 first electron transport layer F3: LiQ 50:50 25 first n-type sub-iayer F4 : Li 99: 1 5 from 90: 0 to second n-type sub-layer F4 : Li 5

80:20

94.5:5.5* 10 p-type sub-layer F1 PD-1 or F1 :PD-3

80:20 10 second hole transport layer F1 100 35 second electron blocking

F2 100 10 layer

second emitting layer ABH1 13; BD200 97:3 20 second electron transport

F3: LiQ 50:50 36 layer

cathode At 100 100

Table 3 - Example 3

^* In the comparative examples, volume ratios matrix:p-dopant in the p-CGL were adjusted so that for both dopants, the molar ratio matrix: p-dopant was equal, having the same value 90: 10.

^** analogous devices comprising an Yb or Al interlayer afforded very similar results Following, auxiliary materials were used in organic electronic devices according to Examples:

2.2',2"-(cyclopropane-1 ,2,3-triylidene)-tris[2-(4-cyanoperfluorophenyl)-acetonitril e],

CAS 1224447-88-4, PD-2; '-(perfluoronaphtalene-2,6-diylidene)dimalononitrile, CAS 912482-15-6, PD-1

biphenyl-4-yl(9,9-diphenyl-9H-fluoren-2-yl)-[4-(9-pheny!-9H- carbazol-3-y!)phenyl]- amine, CAS 1242056-42-3, F1 ;

N,N-bis(4-=-(dibenzo[b,d]furan-4-yl)phenyl)-[1 _i r:4', 1 "-terphenyl]-4-amine, CAS 1 198399-61- 9, F2;

(3-{dibenzo[c,h]acridin-7-yl)phenyl)diphenylphosphine oxide. CAS 1440545-22-1 , F3;

1 ,3-bis(9-phenyl-1 , 10-phenanthrolin-2-yl)benzene, CAS 721969-94-4, F4;

lithium 8-hydroxyquinolinolate, CAS 850918-68-2, LiQ.

ABH-1 13 is an emitter host and BD-200 is a blue fluorescent emitter dopant, both commercially available from SFC, Korea.

Following, technical effects which may be provided by one or more of the alternative embodiments are described.

In Example 1 , an interlayer 16 is provided between the n-type sub-layer 5a and the p-type sub-layer 5b of the charge generation layer 5 (see Fig. 2). The interlayer is provided with a layer thickness of about 1 nm. The interlayer is made of Li. The composition and thickness of all layers in example 1 can be taken from Table 1 . The performance of the device is shown in Fig. 4. In this case, luminance measurement was made without calibration and quantitative efficiency evaluation was not made. Fig. 4, however, shows a clear operating voltage benefit for fullerene compound PD-3 (curve 21 ) in comparison to quinone compound PD-1 (curve 20),

With regard to Example 2, the n-type sub-layer 5a consists of two n-type sub-layers 5a 1 and 5a2 having different redox n-dopant concentration (see Table 2). Li was used as redox n- dopant. The concentration of Li in the first n-type sublayer 5a 1 is lower than the concentra- tion of Li in the second n-type sub-layer 5a2, Thereby, a concentration gradient of Li achieved, whereby the concentration of Li in the n-type sub-layer closer to the first electrode is lower than the concentration of Li in the n-type sub-layer closer to the second electrode. The composition and thickness of all layers in example 2 can be taken from Table 2

Fig. 5 shows an operating voltage benefit for fullerene compound PD-3 (curve 31 ) in comparison to quinone compound PD-1 (curve 30). In Fig. 6, the results show comparable quantum efficiency for PD-1 (curve 40) and PD-3 (curve 41 ). In example 3, the charge generation layer consists of a n-type sub-layer and a p-type sublayer. The composition and thickness of all layers in example 3 can be taken from Table 3. In Fig. 7, it can be seen that fullerene compound PD-3 offers a benefit in operating voltage over quinone compound PD-1 . Moreover, Fig. 6 shows a clear efficiency benefit of the use of fullerene compound PD-3 (curve 61 ) over the quinone compound PD-1 (curve 60) in this device arrangement.

Additionally, four comparative examples were provided to show technical effect of the invention over US 2016/ 005991 which can be considered as the closest state of art. As an additional auxiliary material served HAT-CN having formula

In additional comparative example 1 , device of Example 1 was modified as shown in Table 4, to comprise the previous art combination of the fullerene C ₆₀ buffer layer with the HAT-CN first CGL instead of the combination of the Li interlayer with the PD-3-doped p-type sub-layer according to present invention. Table 4 - additional comparative example 1

Performance of a device comprising 5 nm thick C ₈₀ interlayer instead of 2 nm thick one was practically identical in all aspects. The obtained results showed that at current density 10 mA/cm ² , a set of devices prepared according to this comparative example operated at an average voltage 9.62 V, whereas another set of devices, prepared in the same run of the vacuum tool according to Example 1 of the present invention, operated at an average voltage 9.37 V. Furthermore, device stability test made at 85 °C and current density 15 mA/cm ² showed in the set of comparative devices an average change of the operational voltage 0.20 V after 50 hours of continual operation, whereas the voltage of inventive devices remained very stable (change 0.01 V).

In additional comparative example 2, device of Example 1 was modified as shown in Table 5, to test the influence of replacement of fullerene p-dopant PD-3 substituted with electron withdrawing groups according to present invention with C ₆₀ fullerene of previous art. 64541

- 16 -

Table 5 - additional comparative example 2

^* 10 mol.% C, The experiment showed that the comparative device is not able to reach the desired current densities (above 10 mA cm ² ) within the voltage range which is measurable in the used tool. At current density 5 mA/cm ² , a set of devices prepared according to this comparative example operated at an average voltage 9.6 V, whereas another set of devices, prepared in the same run of the vacuum tool according to Example 1 of the present invention, operated at an average voltage 8.7 V.

In additional comparative example 3, device of Example 3 was modified as shown in Table 6, to comprise the previous art combination of the fullerene C ₆₀ buffer layer with the HAT-CN first CGL instead of the PD-3-doped p-type sub-layer according to present invention. Table 6 - comparative example 3

Performance of a device comprising 5 nm thick C ₆₀ interlayer instead of 2 nm thick one was practically identical in all aspects. The obtained results showed that at current density 10 mA/cm ² , a set of devices prepared according to this comparative example operated at an average voltage 9.48 V, whereas another set of devices, prepared in the same run of the vacuum tool according to Example 3 of the present invention, operated at an average voltage 9.27 V. Furthermore, device stability test made at 85 °C and current density 15 mA/cm ² showed in the set of comparative devices an average change of the operational voltage 0.26 V after 50 hours of continual operation, whereas the voltage of inventive devices remained significantly more stable (change 0.1 1 V).

In additional comparative example 4, device of Example 3 was modified as shown in Table 7, to test in another embodiment of the present invention the influence of replacement of fuller- ene p-dopant PD-3 substituted with electron withdrawing groups according to present invention with C ₆ o fullerene of previous art. Table 7 - comparative example 4

^* 10 mol.% C ₆₀ The experiment showed that the comparative device is not able to reach the desired current densities (above 10 mA/cm ² ) within the voltage range which is measurable in the used tool. At current density 5 mA/cm ² , a set of devices prepared according to this comparative example operated at an average voltage 9.7 V, whereas another set of devices, prepared in the same run of the vacuum tool according to Example 1 of the present invention, operated at an average voltage 8.5 V.

The features disclosed in this specification, the figures and / or the claims may be material for the realization of various embodiments, taken in isolation or in various combinations thereof.