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An organic light emitting transistor (OLET) is a form of transistor that emits light. It has been claimed that these transistors have potential for digital displays and optical interconnects on chip. OLET is a new concept of light emission, which provides planar light sources that can be easily integrated into substrates such as silicon, glass and paper using standard microelectronic techniques. OLETs differ from OLEDs in that an active matrix can be made entirely from OLETs, whereas OLEDs must be combined with switching elements such as TFTs. The potential for organic semiconductor-based devices for light generation is demonstrated by the commercialization of Screen technologies based on organic light emitting diodes (OLED). However, the exciton extinction and photon loss processes still limit the efficiency and brightness of OLEDs.
Organic light emitting transistors (OLETs) are alternative light sources that combine, in the same architecture, the switching mechanism of a thin film transistor and an electroluminescent device. In this way, the OLET could open a new era in organic optoelectronics and serve as a test bed to address key fundamental optoelectronic and photonic issues. Here we present the concept of using a p-channel / emitter / n-channel tri-layer semiconductor heterostructure in OLETs, providing a new approach to greatly improve OLET performance and address these open questions. In this architecture, charge-annihilation of excitons and loss of electrode photons are avoided. Our devices are> 100 times more efficient than the OLED equivalent,> 2 times more efficient than the OLED optimized with the same emitting layer and> 10 times more efficient than any other OLETs reported.