Roll-to-roll (R2R) atomic layer deposition (ALD) technology is currently being developed tocombine the high film quality of ALD with low-cost and high-throughput R2R manufacturingtechnology. While this technology can be foreseen to enable broad range of new applications,one of the most potential applications is the moisture barrier solution to the flexible PV andOLED markets. Thin single material inorganic ALD barrier layers have been shown to achieveultra-barrier performance, and are estimated to be very cost-efficient to produce on R2R basis.The practical implementation of the characteristic ALD cycles by use of spatially separatedprecursor flows is the most challenging task when adopting ALD to R2R manufacturing. Toaddress the scale-up challenges, a small R&D scale reactor for continuous mode ALD (CALD)processing was used to simulate the wider ALD coating head for process developmentpurposes. Trials done with trimethylaluminum + water process at 120 °C show a growth rate of～0.8 ?/cycle with 12.5 m/min web speed. The barrier performance of ～18 nm of such film is in10~(-3) g/(m~2day) level at 38 °C and in 90% relative humidity. A scaled-up R2R ALD system with anoscillating coating head is currently being ramped up and the initial results look promising. Thesystem can be used to with up to 500 mm wide flexible substrates.
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