Flexible organic–inorganic hybrid layer encapsulation for organic opto-electronic devices

Abstract : In this work we produce and study the flexible organic–inorganic hybrid moisture barrier layers for the protection of air sensitive organic opto-electronic devices. The inorganic amorphous silicon nitride layer (SiN$_x$:H) and the organic PMMA [poly (methyl methacrylate)] layer are deposited alternatingly by using hot wire chemical vapor deposition (HW-CVD) and spin-coating techniques, respectively. The effect of organic–inorganic hybrid interfaces is analyzed for increasing number of interfaces. We produce highly transparent (∼80% in the visible region) hybrid structures. The morphological properties are analyzed providing a good basis for understanding the variation of the water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) values. A minimum WVTR of 4.5×10$^{−5}$ g/m$^2$ day is reported at the ambient atmospheric conditions for 7 organic/inorganic interfaces. The hybrid barriers show superb mechanical flexibility which confirms their high potential for flexible applications.