Understanding the Effects of Substrate Surface Roughness on Powder Electroluminescent Device Through Experimental Validation and Numerical Simulation

Abstract

The electric field excitation type powder electroluminescent (EL) device has excellent environmental resistance, it is expected to be applied to a multifunctional surface emitting device. We have reported that the EL properties in bottom-emission structured powder EL device are determined by both the substrate surface roughness and transmittance. However, it was not possible to evaluate the effect of these substrate properties on the EL properties separately. To clarify the effect of surface roughness, we fabricated a top-emission structured powder EL device, which is unaffected by substrate transmittance, on an abrasive paper. As a result, the EL properties increased inversely with decreasing surface roughness. Furthermore, the electric field analysis indicates that the changes in film thickness resulting from surface roughness determine the EL properties.