Optical calcium test for measurement of multiple permeation pathways in flexible organic optoelectronic encapsulation

Organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices and other organic electronics have the promise to provide lightweight, flexible alternatives to traditional rigid semiconductor technologies. However, organic electronics often degrade rapidly upon exposure to oxygen, water, light, and combinations thereof, as well as upon exposure to elevated temperatures. This requires the use of high gas barrier packaging in order for devices to have operational lifetimes on the order of years. To meet the challenge of transparent high gas barrier materials which maintain the flexibility of organic optoelectronics, many different materials and encapsulation schemes have been developed including the lamination of devices between flexible multi-layer barrier films. Because of their excellent barrier properties, these materials often require specialized testing for permeation measurements which evaluate materials independently. In this work, we demonstrate the use of an optical calcium test, which uses a sample geometry that closely mimics an OPV device, to evaluate a complete encapsulation scheme and to elucidate the relative importance of different permeation pathways. Using an encapsulation scheme of laminating a device between two multi-layer barrier films using an adhesive, measurements were made for water vapor permeation through the barrier film, the bulk adhesive, and along the adhesive-to-barrier film interface. The results show that the combined lateral permeation, including through the bulk adhesive and along the adhesive-to-barrier film interface, can constitute over 50% of the total permeation for small devices (4.5 cm × 4.5 cm). The adhesive-to-barrier film interface was also found to be a very important pathway as it was deemed responsible for more permeation than the bulk adhesive. The technique was also used to evaluate encapsulation design variables such as the effects of adhesive thickness and surface treatments on the lateral water permeation. We demonstrate that decreasing the adhesive thickness leads to a decrease in the lateral water permeation.