Plastic substrate with gas barrier layer and transparent conductive oxide thin film for flexible displays

Abstract A novel plastic substrate for flexible displays was developed. The substrate consisted of a polycarbonate (PC) base film coated with a gas barrier layer and a transparent conductive thin film. PC with ultra-low intrinsic birefringence and high temperature dimensional stability was developed for the base film. The retardation of the PC base film was less than 1 nm at a wavelength of 550 nm (film thickness, 120 µm). Even at 180 °C, the elastic modulus was 2 GPa, and thermal shrinkage was less than 0.01%. The surface roughness of the PC base film was less than 0.5 nm. A silicon oxide (SiOx) gas barrier layer was deposited on the PC base film by a roll-to-roll DC magnetron reactive sputtering method. The water vapor transmission rate of the SiOx film was less than 0.05 g/m2/day at 40 °C and 100% relative humidity (RH), and the permeation of oxygen was less than 0.5 cc/m2 day atm at 40 °C and 90% RH. As the transparent conductive thin film, amorphous indium zinc oxide was deposited on the SiOx by sputtering. The transmittance was 87% and the resistivity was 3.5 × 10− 4 ohm cm.