Atomic layer deposition (ALD) has been widely reported as a novel method for thin film encapsulation (TFE) of organic light-emitting diodes and organic photovoltaic cells. Both organic and inorganic thin films can be deposited by ALD with a variety of precursors. In this work, the performances of Al2O3 thin films and Al2O3/alucone hybrid films have been investigated. The samples with a 50 nm Al2O3 inorganic layer deposited by ALD at a low temperature of 80°C showed higher surface roughness (0.503 ± 0.011 nm), higher water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) values (3.77 × 10(-4) g/m(2)/day), and lower transmittance values (61%) when compared with the Al2O3 (inorganic)/alucone (organic) hybrid structure under same conditions. Furthermore, a bending test upon single Al2O3 layers showed an increased WVTR of 1.59 × 10(-3) g/m(2)/day. However, the film with a 4 nm alucone organic layer inserted into the center displayed improved surface roughness, barrier performance, and transmittance. After the bending test, the hybrid film with 4 nm equally distributed alucone maintained better surface roughness (0.339 ± 0.014 nm) and barrier properties (9.94 × 10(-5) g/m(2)/day). This interesting phenomenon reveals that multilayer thin films consisting of inorganic layers and decentralized alucone organic components have the potential to be useful in TFE applications on flexible optical electronics.
Keywords: Low-temperature atomic layer deposition; Molecular layer deposition; Thin film encapsulation; Water vapor transmission rate.