nCLEAR® Barrier Coatings

Beneq ALD barrier coatings for flexible and organic electronics

The need for efficient moisture and oxygen barrier films is a major challenge in flexible and organic electronics, of which organic light emitting diodes (OLED) and organic photovoltaics (OPV) are two applications. Conventional thin film barrier deposition techniques are incapable of producing barrier layers with a low enough water vapor transmission rate (WVTR). For this reason and need, ALD-based Beneq nCLEAR^® barrier coatings offer superior properties and tangible solutions for the industry.
 

nCLEAR barrier technology

Beneq nCLEAR inorganic barrier films are deposited with atomic layer deposition (ALD), which creates extremely dense thin films with very low pinhole density. As a result, ALD films provide unique barrier properties. Beneq has more than twenty years of experience in using ALD for manufacturing and can provide high-performance nCLEAR barriers based on proprietary nanolaminates. The solution is an automated batch coating process for which Beneq provides turnkey systems, e.g., the TFS 600.

Barrier properties

nCLEAR technology has demonstrated world class WVTR results of 10^-4 g/m²/24 h at 80 °C and 80% RH, which corresponds to < 10^-6 g/m²/24 h in ambient conditions. These results were achieved with a Beneq-developed nanolaminate (patents pending).

The main benefits of nCLEAR:

• World-class barrier properties
• Uniform, pinhole-free coatings on planar or complex 3D shapes
• Low process temperature, well below 100 °C
• Excellent adhesion between coating and surface
• Robust and reliable coating process

Beneq WCS 500 Web Coating System for Roll-to-Roll ALD

The Beneq WCS 500 is especially designed for R&D and pilot production for many industrial applications, including moisture barriers for flexible organic electronics and buffer layers for CIGS solar cells.

More information about the WCS 500 is available on the WCS 500 equipment page.

Beneq TFS 600 Thin Film System for ALD

The Beneq TFS 600 is an ALD system designed specifically for industrial vacuum-line integrated OLED encapsulation. The system enables in-line ALD production without breaking the vacuum between manufacturing stages. The TFS 600 offers:

• Superior coating quality combined with a short cycle time
• OLED encapsulation and other application-specific reaction chamber design with optimized coating performance
• Fully automated loading operations
• Clean-room compatibility

More information about the TFS 600 is available on the TFS 600 equipment page.

More information

Download nCLEAR barrier coatings brochure (pdf).