Improved device reliability in organic light emitting devices by controlling the etching of indium zinc oxide anode

A controllable etching process for indium zinc oxide (IZO) films was developed by using a weak etchant of oxalic acid with a slow etching ratio. With controllable etching time and temperature, a patterned IZO electrode with smoothed surface morphology and slope edge was achieved. For the practical application in organic light emitting devices (OLEDs), a suppression of the leak current in the current-voltage characteristics of OLEDs was observed. It resulted in a 1.6 times longer half lifetime in the IZO-based OLEDs compared to that using an indium tin oxide (ITO) anode etched by a conventional strong etchant of aqua regia.