High-performance organic–inorganic hybrid optocouplers based on organic light-emitting diodes and a-Si:H photodiodes

• Published in: Sensors and actuators. A. Physical. Vol. 236; pp. 364 - 368
• Main Authors: Li, Dong, Kim, Kibum, Zhang, Shumao, Dong, Guifang, Kuo, Yue
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.12.2015
• Subjects: a-Si:H pin photodiode; Actuators; Electronics; High current transfer ratio; Hybrid systems; Light sources; Optocoupler; Optoelectronics; Organic light emitting diode; Organic light emitting diodes; Photodiodes; Wavelengths; a-Si:H pin photodiode; High current transfer ratio; Organic light emitting diode; Optocoupler
• ISSN: 0924-4247; 1873-3069
• DOI: 10.1016/j.sna.2015.11.004

•Organic–inorganic hybrid optocouplers with OLED and a-Si:H photodiodes were investigated.•The current density transfer ratio of the optocoupler reaches 10.7%.•The hybrid optocouplers exhibit promising results and can be further improved.•This type of devices can be applied to many solid or flexible optoelctronics. Organic–inorganic hybrid electronics have attracted considerable attention because of the possibility of combining advantages of both the organic and inorganic devices. High-performance hybrid optocouplers made of the a-Si:H pin photodiode and organic light emitting diodes have been fabricated and studied. With a blue organic light emitting diode as the light source, the optocoupler shows good photoresponse with a current transfer ratio of 3.72% at the photodetector bias of −2V and a large light/dark current ratio of 5.6×106. With a high efficiency tandem white organic light emitting diode as the light source, an even higher current transfer ratio of 10.7% was achieved, which is larger than that of the all-organic optocoupler and is comparable to that of the all-inorganic optocoupler. Influences of different wavelength components ratios of the OLED spectrum on the photoresponse of a-Si:H pin photodiode was also investigated. It shows that the selection of OLED wavelength plays important roles in improving the performance of OOC. This kind of organic–inorganic hybrid system can be used in many electronic and optoelectronic products.