Thin-film barrier performance of zirconium oxide using the low-temperature atomic layer deposition method

In this study, ZrO2 films deposited by the atomic layer deposition method, as the encapsulation layer for organic electronics devices, were characterized. Both the effects of tetrakis (dimethylamido) zirconium(IV) growth temperature and oxidants, such as water (H2O) and ozone (O3), were investigated. The X-ray diffraction analysis shows the amorphous characteristic of the 80-nm-thick films grown at 80 °C, the crystallinity of the films was much lower than those grown at 140 and 200 °C. The scanning electron microscopy analyses showed that the surface morphology strongly depended on the crystallinity of the film. The water vapor transmission rate of the 80 nm thick ZrO2 films can be reduced from 3.74 × 10(-3) g/(m(2) day) (80 °C-H2O as the oxidant) to 6.09 × 10(-4) g/(m(2) day) (80 °C-O3 as the oxidant) under the controlled environment of 20 °C and a relative humidity of 60%. Moreover, the organic light-emitting diodes integrated with 80 °C-O3-derived ZrO2 films were undamaged, and their luminance decay time changed considerably. This was attributed to the better barrier property of the low-temperature ZrO2 film to the amorphous microscopic bulk and almost homogeneous microscopic surface.