Atomic-Layer-Deposited SiO/SnO Nanolaminate Structure for Moisture and Hydrogen Gas Diffusion Barriers

High-density SnO and SiO thin films were deposited via atomic layer deposition (ALD) at low temperatures (100 °C) using tetrakis(dimethylamino)tin(IV) (TDMASn) and di-isopropylaminosilane (DIPAS) as precursors and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and O₂ plasma as reactants, respectively. The thin-film encapsulation (TFE) properties of SnO and SiO were demonstrated with thickness dependence measurements of the water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) evaluated at 50 °C and 90% relative humidity, and different TFE performance tendencies were observed between thermal and plasma ALD SnO. The film density, crystallinity, and pinholes formed in the SnO film appeared to be closely related to the diffusion barrier properties of the film. Based on the above results, a nanolaminate (NL) structure consisting of SiO and SnO deposited using plasma-enhanced ALD was measured using WVTR (H₂O molecule diffusion) at 2.43 × 10^-5 g/m² day with a 10/10 nm NL structure and time-lag gas permeation measurement (H₂ gas diffusion) for applications as passivation layers in various electronic devices.