Extremely flexible organic-inorganic moisture barriers

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.