The characteristics of an SiNx passivation layer grown by a specially designed inductively coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition (ICP-CVD) system with straight antennas for the top-emitting organic light emitting diodes (TOLEDs) are investigated. Using a high-density plasma on the order of similar to 10(11) electronS/cm(3) formed by nine straight antennas connected in parallel, a high-density SiN, passivation layer was deposited on a transparent Mg-Ag cathode at a substrate temperature of 40 degrees C. Even at a low substrate temperature, single SiN, passivation layer prepared by ICP-CVD showed a low water vapor transmission rate of 5 x 10(-2) g/m(2)/day and a transparency of similar to 85% respectively. In addition, current-voltage-luminescence results of the TOLED passivated by the SiNx layer indicated that the electrical and optical properties of the TOLED were not affected by the high-density plasma during the SiN, deposition process. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.