Lotus’ TransFlex Roll to Roll ALD technology is ideally suited to the deposition of relatively thin ALD films, where high performance, high volume, and low coating cost are all critical.

The unique patented technology for Roll to Roll PEALD achieves high speed, low cost deposition in a remarkably simple way.  We weave the flexible substrate back and forth between physically separated precursor regions. This geometry allows extended path lengths for the substrate in each of the reaction zones, allowing web speeds orders of magnitude faster than can be achieved in Spatial ALD reactors utilizing coating “heads” (see schematic above).

Operating under medium vacuum pressure similar to that used for conventional ALD, precursor separation is easily maintained by differential pressure and pumping, allowing large open passageways, millimeters wide, for the substrate to pass through.  This is in stark contrast to atmospheric pressure Spatial ALD, where the passageway gaps must be restricted to 10’s of microns to avoid precursor mixing.  And the use of a simple DC direct plasma instead of water as the oxygen precursor allows us to maintain very high web speeds, even at very low temperatures.

Advantages:

• Continuous Roll to Roll processing at speeds up to 10 meters per second.
• Simplified processing and maintenance.  Only the web surface is coated, as it is the only surface that “sees” both reactants.
• High precursor utilization.
• Film properties are consistent with conventional ALD coatings.

Applications:

• Ultra-Barrier films for Flexible Electronics.  Demonstrated barrier performance and low coating costs suitable for several specific end products, including:
• High Barrier Films for commercial packaging.   Demonstrated barrier deposition speeds of over 5 meters per second, with projected costs of a few cents per square meter.  Because the barrier coating is very thin, it is also more flexible than conventional evaporated or sputtered coatings,  making the technology suitable for demanding commercial applications including:
• Functional films for flexible electronics, including:

Related Content

• Learn more about the science of spatial ALD here.