SBIR Phase II: Closed-Field Magnetron Sputtering with RF Plasma Enhancement for Deposition of Thin Films on Large-Area Flexible Substrates for Photovoltaics Applications

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(Public Law 111-5)资助的。该小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目旨在开发一种交钥匙溅射沉积系统，以提供透明导电氧化物(TCO)材料的低温薄膜沉积。介绍了一种实验室规模的射频等离子体增强闭场磁控溅射薄膜沉积系统。这些薄膜的生长温度比大多数竞争工艺都要低。所开发的沉积工艺的一个关键优点是它能够在不需要后处理(以实现良好的电阻率和透明度)的情况下生产TCO，从而简化了与大批量处理大型平板聚合物基板兼容的工艺。该项目将展示该工艺与替代TCO材料和光伏应用的兼容性。这项技术的更广泛影响/商业潜力将是光伏(PV)技术的创新。更有效地利用太阳能的能力将导致许多设备的重大突破。多年来，硅(Si)太阳能电池一直是太阳能产业的支柱，使用具有多层p-n结二极管的单晶硅衬底。然而，一个主要的限制因素是光伏应用中硅的短缺，因为它与半导体行业现有的需求竞争。许多不同的光伏替代品正在积极开发中，它们利用TCO材料提供导电阳极和/或阴极。只要能降低制造成本，薄膜太阳能电池就能很好地替代硅基太阳能电池。薄膜太阳能电池使用厚度很小的半导体材料层，沉积在玻璃、不锈钢或柔性基板上。生产光伏设备的一种经济高效的方法是使用聚合物。然而，目前聚合物光伏器件的器件性能较低，但可以通过在聚合物光伏器件结构上嵌入金属氧化物半导体来进一步提高器件性能。因此，如果TCO薄膜的制备被证明可以在较低的温度下在大面积的柔性基板上完成，那么这项技术将具有成本竞争力。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project seeks to develop a turnkey sputter deposition system to provide low temperature thin film deposition of transparent conductive oxide (TCO) materials. A laboratory scale film deposition system using a closed-field magnetron sputtering with RF plasma enhancement was demonstrated. The thin films were grown at lower temperatures than most competing processes. One key advantage of the deposition process developed is its ability to produce TCOs without the need for post-treatments (to achieve both good resistivity and transparency) thereby simplifying the process compatible for high-volume processing of large flat polymeric substrates. The project will demonstrate the process compatible with alternative TCO materials and with photovoltaic applications.The broader impact/commercial potential from this technology will be innovations in photovoltaic (PV) technology. The ability to tap solar energy more efficiently will lead to major breakthroughs for many devices. For years, silicon (Si) solar cells have been the backbone of the solar industry using monocrystalline Si substrate with multiple layers of p-n junction diodes. However, one of the main limiting factors is the shortage of silicon for PV applications as it competes with the existing requirements in the semiconductor industry. Many different PV alternatives are in active development which utilizes TCO materials to provide the conductive anode, cathode, or both. Thin film solar cells provide a good alternative to Si-based solar cells as long as the fabrication cost can be reduced. Thin film solar cells use layers of semiconducting materials with little micrometer thickness and deposited on glass, stainless steel or flexible substrates. One cost-effective method to produce PV devices is through the use of polymers. However, the current device performance of polymer-based PV devices is low but can further be improved by fabricating metal oxide semiconductors embedded on the polymer-based device structure. Thus, this technology will be cost-competitive if the fabrication of TCO thin films are proven they can be done on large-area flexible substrates at lower temperatures.