Improvement of Permeation of Solvent-Free Multilayer Encapsulation of Thin Films on Poly(ethylene terephthalate)

In this study, inorganic multilayer thin-film encapsulation is adopted for the first time to protect an organic layer from moisture and oxygen. Inorganic multilayer thin-film encapsulation is deposited onto poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) using an electron beam and sputtering. The SiON/SiO 2 and parylene layer show the most suitable properties. Under these conditions, the water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) for PET can be reduced from a level of 0.57 g m -2 day -1 (bare substrate) to 1×10 -5 g m -2 day -1 after the application of a SiON and SiO 2 layer. These results indicate that PET/parylene/SiO 2 /SiON barrier coatings have high potential for flexible organic light-emitting diode (OLED) applications.