Growth and structure of hyperthin SiO2 coatings on polymers

Transparent inorganic oxide coatings on polymers are playing an increasingly important role in pharmaceutical, food, and beverage packaging, and more recently in encapsulation of organic, light-emitting display devices. Such coatings are being prepared by physical or by chemical vacuum-deposition methods. They possess barrier properties against permeation of gases or vapors when they are thicker than a certain critical thickness, dc; for d