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Organic/inorganic multilayer structures were fabricated for extreme flexibility as well as enhanced moisturebarrier property. The organic and inorganic layers for the structures were formed by plasma polymerization and atomic layer deposition, respectively. The layers were grown alternately to form the organic/inorganic multilayer structures on a plastic substrate. To accomplish extreme flexibility of the barriers, ultra-thin aluminum oxide layers were grown by the atomic layer deposition and sandwiched by a flexible plasma-polymer layer. The moisture-barrier films were then confirmed to retain the initial barrier property even after 10,000 times of bending at a radius as small as 3mm when the barrier structure was located at a neutral plane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New zirconium oxide (ZrO)-based organic-inorganic multilayers were fabricated and tested for flexible moisture barriers and compared with typical aluminum oxide (AlO)-based multilayers. We report that amorphous ZrO had a better intrinsic barrier property than that of amorphous AlO. Due to the lower elastic modulus of ZrO, the ZrO-based structures had better flexibility than that of the AlO-based structures. The ZrO-based barrier was superior to the AlO-based barrier not only for flexibility but also for barrier performance. The barrier property and flexibility of the ZrO-based structures were enhanced by about 20% and 30% over those of the AlO-based structures, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic-inorganic multilayer structures were prepared for a moisture barrier. As the organic polymer and inorganic layers, plasma-polymerized n-hexane and aluminum-oxide layers were utilized, respectively. The plasma polymerization of n-hexane was confirmed by the appearance of carbon double bonds in the produced polymer layer. The organic and inorganic layers were prepared sequentially in vacuum, and the repeated growth sequence produced the multilayer structures. The organic-inorganic multilayer structures show about 35% better moisture-barrier property than those obtained from individual organic and inorganic layers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]