Recent Advancements in Large Area Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) Coatings

摘要

Sputtered silver films are over-coated with SiO_2 and SiN layers deposited by GPI's large area PECVD process. The sputtering cathode and PECVD reactor are run at the same time in a roll to roll coater demonstrating an in-line process. The optical and electrical properties of combined sputtered and PECVD layers are measured. The results show that direct top coating of SiO_2 or SiN by PECVD process is not detrimental to silver. This is unexpected given the sensitivity of silver to oxygen plasma. It is postulated the silver is protected by a precursor vapor monolayer that is physisorbed on the surface of the silver before the PECVD process. This vapor monolayer effectively functions as a blocker layer preventing damage to the silver. By demonstrating that the silver layer properties are maintained with a PECVD top coat, we show that PECVD process can successfully be integrated with sputtered silver films on large area substrates.