Experimental study on buckle evolution of thin inorganic layers on a polymer substrate

In this paper the behavior of a 250 nm and a 350 nm thick Indium tin oxide (ITO) layers deposited on a 200 μm thick high temperature aromatic polyester substrate (Arylite™) and spin coated with a 3 μm silica–acrylate hybrid coating (Hard Coat) is discussed. In-situ optical microscopy of the layered structures under uniaxial compressive strain was used to determine the buckle delamination rate at different applied strains. The effect of applied uniaxial compressive strain and layer thickness on the evolution of buckle width and height was investigated. The biaxial-residual stress, uniaxial compressive stress, poor adhesion at the interface and Poisson’s ratio are believed to be responsible for the formation of telephone-cord buckling.