High Quality Inductively Coupled Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposited SiOxNy Gas Barrier Films for OLED Display

SiOxNy thin films were synthesized on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate at low temperature (~40°C) by inductively coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition (ICP- CVD) system. Details of the RF power, gas ratio (Si, N₂, O₂, Ar, H₂), and film thickness effects on the SiOxNy/PET film properties in terms of deposition rate, chemical composition, water vapor transmittance rate (WVTR), transmittance, refractive index, surface morphologies, defect, and residual stress were described. When the RF power increased from 500W to 1200W, the deposition rate and surface roughness increased while WVTR decreased to a value near 0.008g/m²/day which is very good WVTR property as a single inorganic barrier thin films. A lower WVTR value can be achieved under a barrier thickness of 300nm.