Washington, Nov. 3 (ANI): Researchers in Georgia have created a new way to produce better films using atomic layer deposition that will safeguard your phone's high-tech organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display from every whiff of oxygen or molecule of water vapor.
Existing methods for manufacturing these high-performance barriers aren't perfect. Due to the way they're made, they often have small defects, resulting in tiny holes that let in water or oxygen.
Samuel Graham and his colleagues at the Georgia Institute of Technology have created new barrier films that can protect electronics in very harsh environments - when submerged in salt water for months, for example.
Graham said that by creating such barrier films, we are able to extend the lifetime and reliability of electronic devices.
The new coatings can be used for electronics such as implantable biomedical devices, light-emitting diodes (LED) used in solid-state lighting and displays, solar cells, and organic electrochromic windows, which go from opaque to clear when a voltage is applied.
He said that barrier films will play a large role in the development of many future electronic devices made with organic materials.
High-performance barrier films are usually made with techniques such as sputter deposition or plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. In these methods, material is either "sprayed" onto a substrate or grown from a plasma, creating a thin layer that becomes the film. Although efficient and common in industry, these techniques often result in defects, requiring multiple coatings to create good barrier films. (ANI)
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