AVS 52nd International Symposium
    Thin Films Monday Sessions
       Session TF-MoP

Paper TF-MoP27
Flexible Gas Barrier Coatings Based on Roll-to-Roll Symmetric Magnetron Sputtering

Monday, October 31, 2005, 5:00 pm, Room Exhibit Hall C&D

Session: Aspects of Thin Films Poster Session
Presenter: C.-S. Wang, Kanazawa University, Japan
Authors: C.-S. Wang, Kanazawa University, Japan
K. Sasaki, Kanazawa University, Japan
S.-F. Chen, National Taipei University of Technology, Taiwan
T. Hata, Japan Science and Technology Agency
Correspondent: Click to Email
Superior gas and water vapor barrier coatings on polyethylene terephthalate substrate were prepared by roll to roll symmetric magnetron sputter technique. It has considerable attention that electronic devices such as flat panel displays, electronic paper and solar cell are to be flexible. In general, replacing the substrate from glass to plastic film, the gas permeability is so high that the oxygen and water vapor through the film damage the device. In this work, a new roll-to-roll coater for 300 mm web width combined with asymmetric magnetron sputtering has been developed to produce flexible gas barrier coating with high productivity. Three pairs of symmetric magnetron sputtering cathodes were sited on the both side of the substrate to realize subsequent coating of different layers and low-temperature deposition. On the other hand, the gas barrier coatings composed of 4 layered silicon oxynitride and oxide anti-reflection coatings have been investigated to improve resistance of the oxygen and moisture permeability. As experiments, the gas barrier properties were strongly depended on the film density and thickness and indicated that the gas barrier properties of 4 layered coatings were superior to single layer. The results show the transmission rate of water vapor bellow 0.07 cc/m@super 2@-day-atm and the oxygen transmission rates as low as 0.2 cc/m@super 2@-day-atm, moreover, an average transmittance rate of 98% in the range of visible spectrum has been measured. These competitive values of the coating can be actualized a high throughput of up to 1 m/min at economic coating cost.