18 research outputs found
A combinatorial approach to enhance barrier properties of thin films on polymers
A combinatorial approach to deposit gas barrier layers (GBLs) on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) by means of plasmaâenhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) and plasmaâenhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) is presented. Thin films of SiOx and SiOxCyHz obtained from PECVD were grown either subsequently on a PEALD seeding layer (SiO2) or were capped by ultrathin PEALD films of Al2O3 or SiO2. To study the impact of PEALD layers on the overall GBL performance, PECVD coatings with high macro defect densities and low barrier efficiency with regard to the oxygen transmission rate (OTR) were chosen. PEALD seeding layers demonstrated the ability to influence the subsequent PECVD growth in terms of the lower macro defect density (9 macroâdefects mmâ2) and improved barrier performance (OTRâ=â0.8âcm3âmâ2âdayâ1), while the PEALD cappingâroute produced GBLs free of macroâdefects