Aluminum oxide barrier coating on polyethersulfone substrate by atomic layer deposition for barrier property enhancement

Aluminum oxide layers were deposited on flexible polyethersulfone (PES) substrates via plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) process using trimethylaluminum (TMA) and oxygen as precursor and reactant materials. Several process parameters in PEALD process were investigated in terms of refractive index and layer thickness. Number of process cycle increased the thickness and refractive index of the layer to enhance the barrier properties. Non-physisorbed TMA and unreacted oxygen were purged before and after the plasma reaction, respectively. Identical purge time was applied to TMA and oxygen and it was optimized for 10 s. Thinner and denser layer was formed as substrate temperature increased. However, the PES substrate could be deformed above 120 °C. Aluminum oxide layer formed on PES at optimized conditions have 11.8 nm of thickness and reduced water vapor transmission rate and oxygen transmission rate to below 4 × 10− 3 g/m2 day and 4 × 10− 3 cm3/m2 day, respectively. Polycarbonate and polyethylene naphthalate films were also tested at optimized conditions, and they also showed quite appreciable barrier properties to be used as plastic substrates.