Thin-film encapsulation of top-emission organic light-emitting devices with polyurea/Al2O3 hybrid multi-layers

We developed a room-temperature encapsulation process based on multi-stack of ultra thin Al₂O₃ and polyurea layers for top-emission organic light-emitting devices (TEOLEDs). Device structure, including a capping layer for refractive-index matching and a thick polyurea buffer layer, was optimized to enhance light extraction without distorting electroluminescence spectrum. The efficiency of a TEOLED encapsulated with 5 pairs of Al₂O₃(50 nm)/polyurea(20 nm) layers was better than that of a glass-encapsulated TEOLED, whereas their color coordinates were almost identical. Moreover, the half-decay lifetime of a TEOLED encapsulated with 5 pairs of Al₂O₃/polyurea layers was 86% of that of a glass-encapsulated TEOLED. Water vapor transition rate of 5 pairs of Al₂O₃(50 nm)/polyurea(20 nm) layers on PET film was measured as low as 5 × 10⁻⁴ g/m² day.     

Solution‐Processed Extremely Efficient Multicolor Perovskite Light‐Emitting Diodes Utilizing Doped Electron Transport Layer

A specially designed n‐type semiconductor consisting of Ca‐doped ZnO (CZO) nanoparticles is used as the electron transport layer (ETL) in high‐performance multicolor perovskite light‐emitting diodes (PeLEDs) fabricated using an all‐solution process. The band structure of the ZnO is tailored via Ca doping to create a cascade of conduction energy levels from the cathode to the perovskite. This energy band alignment significantly enhances conductivity and carrier mobility in the CZO ETL and enables controlled electron injection, giving rise to sub‐bandgap turn‐on voltages of 1.65 V for red emission, 1.8 V for yellow, and 2.2 V for green. The devices exhibit significantly improved luminance yields and external quantum efficiencies of, respectively, 19 cd A^?1 and 5.8% for red emission, 16 cd A^?1 and 4.2% for yellow, and 21 cd A^?1 and 6.2% for green. The power efficiencies of these multicolor devices demonstrated in this study, 30 lm W^?1 for green light‐emitting PeLED, 28 lm W^?1 for yellow, and 36 lm W^?1 for red are the highest to date reported. In addition, the perovskite layers are fabricated using a two‐step hot‐casting technique that affords highly continuous (>95% coverage) and pinhole‐free thin films. By virtue of the efficiency of the ETL and the uniformity of the perovskite film, high brightnesses of 10 100, 4200, and 16,060 cd m^?2 are demonstrated for red, yellow, and green PeLEDs, respectively. The strategy of using a tunable ETL in combination with a solution process pushes perovskite‐based materials a step closer to practical application in multicolor light‐emitting devices.     

Analysis of a Parasitic‐Diode‐Triggered Electrostatic Discharge Protection Circuit for 12 V Applications

In this paper, an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit is designed for use as a 12 V power clamp by using a parasitic‐diode‐triggered silicon controlled rectifier. The breakdown voltage and trigger voltage (V_t) of the proposed ESD protection circuit are improved by varying the length between the n‐well and the p‐well, and by adding n+/p+ floating regions. Moreover, the holding voltage (V_h) is improved by using segmented technology. The proposed circuit was fabricated using a 0.18‐μm bipolar‐CMOS‐DMOS process with a width of 100 μm. The electrical characteristics and robustness of the proposed ESD circuit were analyzed using transmission line pulse measurements and an ESD pulse generator. The electrical characteristics of the proposed circuit were also analyzed at high temperature (300 K to 500 K) to verify thermal performance. After optimization, the V_t of the proposed circuit increased from 14 V to 27.8 V, and V_h increased from 5.3 V to 13.6 V. The proposed circuit exhibited good robustness characteristics, enduring human‐body‐model surges at 7.4 kV and machine‐model surges at 450 V.     

Determinants of the intention to use Buy-Online,Pickup In-Store (BOPS): The moderating effects of situational factors and product type

Despite the wider introduction of the buy online and pick up in-store (BOPS) service by retailers, research on BOPS is still sparse, especially those from the consumer perspective. This paper employs the scenario-based factorial survey method to investigate how the perceived characteristics of innovation and the perceived risk of online shopping influence the consumers’ intention to use BOPS while also considering the moderating effects of situational factors (location convenience) and product type (involvement). Our findings indicated that the consumer perceptions of relative advantage, complexity, compatibility, and risks involved in online shopping are important antecedents to intention to use BOPS, and that these relationships were significantly moderated by locational convenience and product involvement. The implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed in detail.     

Efficient Generation of Scalable Transport Stream for High Quality Service in T‐DMB

We introduce an advanced terrestrial digital multimedia broadcasting (AT‐DMB) system that overcomes the limitation of data transmission rates of T‐DMB by doubling it with the same frequency bandwidth. In this letter, we propose an efficient algorithm which generates a scalable transport stream in AT‐DMB by multiplexing certain types of elementary streams encoded using scalable video coding and an MPEG‐surround audio coder for high‐quality multimedia services.     

270 MHz Full HD H.264/AVC High Profile Encoder with Shared Multibank Memory‐Based Fast Motion Estimation

We present a full HD (1080p) H.264/AVC High Profile hardware encoder based on fast motion estimation (ME). Most processing cycles are occupied with ME and use external memory access to fetch samples, which degrades the performance of the encoder. A novel approach to fast ME which uses shared multibank memory can solve these problems. The proposed pixel subsampling ME algorithm is suitable for fast motion vector searches for high‐quality resolution images. The proposed algorithm achieves an 87.5% reduction of computational complexity compared with the full search algorithm in the JM reference software, while sustaining the video quality without any conspicuous PSNR loss. The usage amount of shared multibank memory between the coarse ME and fine ME blocks is 93.6%, which saves external memory access cycles and speeds up ME. It is feasible to perform the algorithm at a 270 MHz clock speed for 30 frame/s real‐time full HD encoding. Its total gate count is 872k, and internal SRAM size is 41.8 kB.     

Effects of Interfacial Dielectric Layers on the Electrical Performance of Top‐Gate In‐Ga‐Zn‐Oxide Thin‐Film Transistors

We investigate the effects of interfacial dielectric layers (IDLs) on the electrical properties of top‐gate In‐Ga‐Zn‐oxide (IGZO) thin film transistors (TFTs) fabricated at low temperatures below 200°C, using a target composition of In:Ga:Zn = 2:1:2 (atomic ratio). Using four types of TFT structures combined with such dielectric materials as Si₃N₄ and Al₂O₃, the electrical properties are analyzed. After post‐annealing at 200°C for 1 hour in an O₂ ambient, the sub‐threshold swing is improved in all TFT types, which indicates a reduction of the interfacial trap sites. During negative‐bias stress tests on TFTs with a Si3N4 IDL, the degradation sources are closely related to unstable bond states, such as Si‐based broken bonds and hydrogen‐based bonds. From constant‐current stress tests of Id = 3 µA, an IGZO‐TFT with heat‐treated Si₃N₄ IDL shows a good stability performance, which is attributed to the compensation effect of the original charge‐injection and electron‐trapping behavior.     

Current status of micro- and nano-structured optical fiber sensors

Recently developed micro- and nano-structured optical fiber sensors, with particular reference to surface plasmon resonance (SPR) fiber sensors and photonic crystal fiber (PCF) sensors are reviewed. SPR fiber sensors can have diverse structures such as D-shape, cladding-off, fiber tip or tapered fiber structures. Some of the recently developed novel structures include the use of various types of fiber gratings in SPR fiber sensors. PCF sensors cover diverse recent developments on photonic-bandgap fiber, holey fiber, hole-assisted fiber and Bragg fiber sensors. Major applications of these include gas sensors and bio-sensors. These micro- and nano-structured fiber sensors have attracted considerable research and development interest, because of their distinct advantages, which include high sensitivity, small sensor head footprint and the flexibility of the optical fibers. They are also of academic interest, and many novel ideas are continuously developed.     

Improved device performances in polymer light-emitting diodes using a stamp transfer printing process

The device performances of spin-coated and stamp transfer printed devices were compared. There was little difference of morphology between the spin-coated and stamp transfer printed devices. However, the stamp transfer printing process was better than the spin-coating process in terms of current density, light-emitting efficiency and lifetime. In particular, the lifetime of the stamp transfer printed device was doubled compared with that of the spin-coated device.     

Phase-separated polydimethylsiloxane as a dielectric surface treatment layer for organic field effect transistors

We suggest a novel method for treating the surfaces of dielectric layers in organic field effect transistors (OFETs). In this method, a blend of poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene-alt-bithiophene) (F8T2) and dimethylsiloxane (DMS) with a curing agent is spin coated onto the surface of a dielectric substrate, silicon oxide (SiO₂), and then thermally cured. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, contact angle measurements, and morphology analysis were used to show that the hydrophilic DMS layer is preferentially adsorbed on the SiO₂ substrate during the spin coating process. After thermal curing, the bottom DMS layer becomes a hydrophobic PDMS layer. This bottom PDMS layer becomes thinner during curing due to the upward motion of the hydrophobic PDMS molecules. The FET mobility of the cured system was 10^?2 cm²/Vs, which is similar to that of polymeric semiconductors on octadecyltrichlorosilane treated SiO₂ dielectric layers. We also discuss the possibility of using this blend method to increase the air-stability of polymeric semiconductors.