The market for flexible barrier manufacturing will be worth $184 million by 2020, says IDTechEx. Single-layer solutions, such as flexible glass and atomic layer deposition (ALD) will capture part of the market.
Due to its fragility and limits of flexibility – it cannot be stretched out of axis – flexible glass is not likely to become a mainstream barrier technology. However, IDTechEx does think that it is a superior solution for flexible substrates – especially for large displays.
ALD will not be a short-term single-layer solution, but could be used in a multi-layer stack. Challenges include its performance at high temperatures (85°+) and humidity (85%+), and vulnerability to defects introduced by loose particles.
