Effect of oxygen content on barrier properties of silicon oxide thin film deposited by dual ion-beam sputtering

A silicon oxide thin film barrier was prepared with various oxygen contents and its chemical composition, surface morphology and optical and barrier properties were related to the deposition conditions used. Our study showed that under Ar and O2 assisted process conditions, a stoichiometric silicon oxide thin film formed at a critical oxygen content during deposition of 40–50%. The thin films deposited at the critical condition showed the lowest surface roughness giving similar or higher optical transmittance than that of the bare polycarbonate (PC) substrate. The boiling and tensile strength test performed on the thin film deposited with assisted ions before the deposition process showed improvement in the adhesion between the oxide layer and the polymer substrate. In addition, interface modification to improve for improving the barrier layer properties of the silicon oxide thin film was achieved through the introduction of dual ion beam sputtering without pre-treatment.