The electronics industry today is one that stands as a multi-billion dollar industry that is increasingly incorporating more and more products that have ever escalating applications in our everyday life. One of the main sectors of this industry, and one that is likely to continue expanding for a considerable number of years are flat-panel displays. Traditionally, the displays market has been dominated by cathode ray tube (CRT) and liquid crystal displays (LCDs) display types. The drawback of such display displays is that they can be bulky, heavy and/or expensive and so there is considerable room for an alternative and superior technology. One possibility is organic semiconductor displays where light-emitting molecules can be dissolved in common solvents before being inkjet printed, spin-coated or even painted onto any surface giving the benefits of simple and cost effective processing. Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have recently become ever more evident as a major display type. This thesis focuses on the advancement of light-emitting dendrimers towards flat-panel display applications. The particular interest in dendrimers arises because it has been found they are capable of giving solution-processed phosphorescent devices with high efficiency. Throughout the thesis the benefits of the dendrimer concept are repeatedly shown revealing why this could become the ideal organic material for display applications. The thesis introduces various techniques of electroluminescence and photoluminescence measurements before applying such methods to study a large number of light-emitting dendrimers in order to explore the role of intermolecular interactions, how they are related to molecular structure, and how this determines photophysical and charge transporting properties of the dendrimers. By such studies a number of highly efficient solution-processed phosphorescent light-emitting dendrimers have been identified while the efficiency of devices made from these dendrimers has been improved. This has been demonstrated in each of the three primary display colours of red, green and blue. The work detailed thus brings closer the prospect of dendrimer light-emitting diodes being the future flat-panel display type of choice.

Organic electronics is a rapidly evolving field with vast number of applications having high potential for commercial success. Although a great progress has been made, many organic electronic applications: organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), organic fieldeffect transistors (OFETs), organic solar cells, etc; still require further optimization to fulfill the requirements for successful commercialization. For many applications, available at this time organic materials do not provide satisfactory performance and stability, which hinders the possibility of a large-scale production. Therefore, the key ingredient needed for a successful improvement in performance and stability of organic electronic devices is in-depth knowledge of physical and chemical properties of molecular and polymeric materials. Since many applications encompass several thin film layers made of organics, and often also inorganic materials, the understanding of both organic-organic and hybrid interfaces is yet another important issue necessary for the successful development of organic electronics. The research presented in this thesis is based mainly on photoelectron spectroscopy, which is an experimental technique especially suited to study both surfaces and interfaces of materials. In the thesis, the properties of one of the most successful polymeric materials, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), often abbreviated as PEDOT, have been extensively studied. The research was done in close cooperation with an industrial partner – AGFA Gevaert, Belgium. The study was focused on the exploration of the intrinsic properties of the material, such as stability, morphology and conductivity. In addition, however, a possibility of alternation of these properties was also explored. This thesis reports also about investigations of the properties of various organic-organic and hybrid interfaces. The energy level alignment at such interfaces plays important role in charge injection and performance of the thin film organic-based devices. The conditions for different energy level alignment regimes at the various interfaces have been studied. The studies on interfaces were performed in close collaboration with the R&D division of DuPont Corporation, USA. This work led to the significant advances in understanding of the interface energetics and properties of industryrelevant organic materials, as represented not only by published scientific papers, but also patent applications.

Optofluidics is a new branch within photonics which attempts to unify concepts from optics and microfluidics. Unification of photonics and microfluidics enable us to carry out analysis of fluids through highly sensitive optical sensing device. These optical sensing devices are contained within a microchip, wherein light is made to pass through analyte (fluids of few nanoliters). The interaction between light and fluid gives rise to highly sensitive diagnostic systems. In this work the fabrication and performance characterization of a fluorescent green OLED for optofluidic applications is presented. The effect of thickness variation of hole injection (CuPc) and hole blocking (BCP) layers on the performance of fluorescent green organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) have been studied. Even though these two organic layers have opposite functions, yet there is a particular combination of their thicknesses when they function in conjunction and luminous efficiency and power efficiency are maximized. The optimum thickness of CuPc layer, used as hole injection layer and BCP used as hole blocking layer were found to be 18 nm and 10 nm respectively. It is with this delicate adjustment of thicknesses, charge balancing was achieved and luminous efficiency and power efficiency were optimized. Such OLEDs with higher luminance can be monolithically integrated with other optical and fluidic components on a common substrate and can function as monolithically integrated internal source of light in optofluidic sensors. In this work the analysis of a fully integrated optofluidic lab-on-a-chip sensor for refractive index and absorbance based sensing using fluorescent green organic light emitting diode (OLED) as a light source is also presented. This device consists of collinear input and output waveguides which are separated by a microfluidic channel. When light is passed through the analyte contained in the fluidic gap an optical power loss due to absorption of light takes place. Apart from absorption a mode-mismatch between collinear input and output waveguide also occurs. The degree of mode-mismatch, quantum of optical power loss due to absorption of light by the fluid forms the basis of our analysis. Detection of minutest change in refractive index and changes in concentration of species contained in the analyte is indicative of sensitivity. Various parameters which influence the sensitivity of the sensor are mode spot size, refractive index of the fluid, molar concentration of the species contained in the analyte, width of the fluidic gap, waveguide geometry. By correlating various parameters, an optimal fluidic gap distance corresponding to a particular mode spot size to achieve the best sensitivity for refractive index based sensing and absorbance based sensing have been determined.

A new dual-boron-cored luminogen ligated with a nitrogen-containing multidentate ligand and four bulky phenyl rings was readily synthesized. The unique molecular structure endows this BN-containing luminogen with rich photophysical properties in either solution or in the solid state, including a large Stokes shift, aggregation induced emission activity and reversible piezochromism. Furthermore, this BN-containing luminogen exhibits good capabilities for imaging living cells and sensing of fluoride anions.

We discuss approaches to increase the light outcoupling efficiency in organic microcavity (MC) lasers and organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). We find that the introduction of metals into the cavities leads to additional Tamm-plasmon polariton modes, while the corrugation of metal contacts, such as perforated m-size holes or a periodic array of metal stripes, leads to 2D confinement of the cavity modes, which in turn reduces the lasing threshold in MCs. Furthermore, we elucidate light loss mechanisms in OLEDs and reveal how external dielectric layers and periodic gratings can be used to enhance outcoupling from the OLED cavity.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This thesis presents the study and characterization of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with the proposal of obtaining an equivalent model that is useful in the OLED driver design and in lighting systems projects. Initially, a literature review covering the operating principle and the constructive aspects of OLEDs is presented. From this, a model that integrates scale, photometrical, electrical and thermal aspects is proposed. This model is static and dynamic and is called EFET. A procedure for parameter identification of the model is proposed, jointly with an analysis of the intrinsic capacitance effect on the OLED electrical, thermal and photometrical performance. The proposed model is able to predict and simulate the OLED based lighting systems before building, saving time and cost. The model is validated using different OLED samples and conclusions are derived from the experimental validation and simulation results. An approach considering the dimming methods of OLEDs is presented, showing the chromatic impact caused by each method. Finally, an OLED driver based on the concept of switched capacitor converters is proposed. The thesis results are satisfactory and provide an enhancement to the state of the art in modeling and OLED driving. / A presente tese de doutorado apresenta o estudo e a caracterização de diodos orgânicos emissores de luz (OLEDs) com a proposta de um modelo equivalente que é útil no desenvolvimento de circuitos de acionamento e na análise de OLEDs, quando aplicados em sistemas de iluminação. Inicialmente, é apresentada uma revisão bibliográfica contemplando o princípio de funcionamento e os aspectos construtivos dos OLEDs. A partir disto, um modelo que integra os aspectos de escala, fotométricos, elétricos e térmicos é proposto. Esse modelo é denominado EFET e é dividido em estático e dinâmico. Uma proposta de procedimento para identificação dos parâmetros do modelo é apresentada, juntamente com a análise do efeito da capacitância intrínseca dos OLEDs no seu desempenho elétrico, térmico e fotométrico. Com o modelo proposto pode-se predizer e simular o comportamento dos OLEDs antes de construir o sistema de iluminação, reduzindo custos e tempo de desenvolvimento. O modelo é validado empregando diferentes amostras de OLEDs. Conclusões são obtidas a partir da validação experimental e de simulações empregando simuladores elétricos e da fluidodinâmica computacional através do método de elementos finitos. Uma abordagem considerando os métodos de ajuste da intensidade luminosa de OLEDs é apresentada, evidenciando o impacto cromático provocado por cada método. Por fim, um circuito de acionamento para OLEDs baseado no conceito de capacitores chaveados é proposto. Os resultados obtidos são satisfatórios e proporcionam um incremento ao estado da arte da modelagem e acionamento de OLEDs.