Passivation Properties of Inorganic Composite Films Packed Around Ca Cells by Electron-Beam Evaporation Technique

Various diatomic inorganic films and their composite films are packed as passivation films around Ca cells on glass substrates by using an electron-beam evaporation technique. When these Ca cells are exposed to an ambient atmosphere, the water vapor penetrating through the passivation layers is adsorbed in the Ca cells, resulting in a gradual progress of transparency in the Ca cells, which cna be represented by changes of the optical transmittance in the visible range. Compared with the saturation times for the Ca cells to become completely transparent in the atmosphere, the protection effects of water vapor are estimated for various passivation films. The composite films are found to show a superior protection effect of water vapor as compared with diatomic inorganic films. Also, the main factors affecting the permeation of water vapor through the oxide films are found to be the polarizability and the packing density.