A new emitting material, tetra( beta-naphthyl)silane (TNS), was synthesized and used as hole blocking material in organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs). Devices with a configuration of ITO/alpha-NPB/TNS/Alq(3)/Al have been constructed, where ITO is indium-tin-oxide, alpha-NPB is (4,4' -bis[N-(1-naphthyl)-N-phenylamino] biphenyl), and Alq(3) is (8-quinolinolato) aluminum. A high performance blue light OLED was obtained, which emits blue light with a peak at 439 nm and starts to emit light at 6 V and the luminance can reach to 3800 cd/m(2) at 13 V and 250 mA/cm(2). (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.