High rate low pressure PECVD for barrier and optical coatings

Presented by Steffen Günther, Matthias Fahland, John Fahlteich,
Björn Meyer, Steffen Straach, Nicolas Schiller, Fraunhofer Institute for Electron Beam and Plasma Technology (FEP)

Two types of new plasma enhanced CVD (PECVD) technologies were developed. The main benefits of these DC-magnetron based PECVD (magPECVD) and hollow cathode arc driven PECVD (arcPECVD) are their low process pressure in the range of 0.1 to 5 Pa and the high coating rate up to 400 nm m/min for magPECVD and
3000 nm m/min for arcPECVD. Both processes were used to produce layer stacks in roll-to-roll coaters on polymer webs. Optical layer stacks made with these technologies showed nearly no stress. The mechanical robustness of permeation barrier layers was improved by implementation of interlayers made by these PECVD methods. Necessary hardware was developed for industrial applications with web widths of 1.7 m for magPECVD and 2.85 m for arcPECVD.