A single gas barrier layer of high-density Al2O3 formed by neutral beam-assisted sputtering at room temperature
Abstract This paper reveals the formation of high-density Al 2 O 3 thin films at low temperatures for inorganic gas barriers using neutral beam-assisted sputtering (NBAS). The NBAS induces an annealing effect even at room temperature through energetic neut.al particles, leading to an enhancement in the density of Al 2 O 3 thin films. As a result, we obtained a water vapor transmission rate of 1.58 × 10 −5  g/(m 2 ·day) using a single layer of Al 2 O 3 thin film at a thickness of 100 nm. In the NBAS, the energetic neutral particle bombardment of the thin film occurs during magnetron sputtering. The high-density Al 2 O 3 gas barrier films formed by the NBAS show applicability to organic microelectronic devices, including organic light-emitting diodes.