A National Thin-Film Cluster Facility for Advanced Functional Materials

我们建议建立一个先进功能材料薄膜沉积的尖端集群设施，设在牛津大学，作为国家研究设施运行。该设施将使先进功能材料的多层结构能够在真空下通过一系列沉积工艺制造，具有前所未有的可控性和多功能性。要沉积的材料体系包括有机、混合(钙钛矿)、金属氧化物和金属硫化物半导体、有机和金属氧化物电介质、透明导电金属氧化物和金属。薄膜集束设备将为多层功能材料和器件设计提供一种强大的新组合方法，与目前在英国各地许多不同地点存在的许多较小的隔离沉淀室所实现的显著不同。至关重要的是，它包括中央处理单元，用于在真空下将薄膜涂层衬底在专门用于不同材料和工艺的沉积室之间传递。这种集束工具方法将避免在腔室之间的过渡过程中受到大气的材料污染，这意味着将实现真正的多层沉积(没有退化的界面)。此外，将不同的材料系列和工艺分离到不同的沉淀室中，避免了在同一沉淀室中存在多种材料时通常会发生的污染。因此，该设施将作为一种高通量薄膜沉积工具，在多种材料和应用的多层沉积和设备构造中具有极高的精确度。它将是对英国已经非常强大的现有溶液处理技术的补充(和协同)，并填补英国研发组合中的战略空白。该设施将在世界范围内独一无二，并将英国置于能源、光电子和电子应用的下一代材料和设备开发的中心。该设施将成为英国新薄膜开发的中心，加强由EPSRC资助的连贯研究工作。学术界和工业界之间的现有联系将得到加强，并建立新的联系，因为这一与工业相关的能力将向不断增长的技术行业提供具有新功能的新材料和设备。

We propose to establish a cutting-edge cluster facility for thin-film deposition of Advanced Functional Materials to be located at the University of Oxford and run as a National Research Facility. This facility will enable multilayer structures of advanced functional materials to be fabricated through a range of deposition processes under vacuum with unprecedented control and versatility. The material systems to be deposited include organic, hybrid (perovskite), metal oxide and metal-chalcogenide semiconductors, organic and metal oxide dielectrics, transparent conducting metal oxides and metals. The Thin-Film Cluster Facility will provide a powerful new combinatorial approach to multi-layer functional material and device design that substantially differs from what can currently be achieved with the number of smaller, isolated deposition chambers that exist in many different locations throughout the UK. Crucially, it comprises central handler units that serve to pass thin-film coated substrates under vacuum between deposition chambers dedicated to different materials and processes. This cluster tool approach will avoid material contamination by atmosphere on transition between chambers, meaning that genuine multi-layer deposition (without degraded interfaces) will be achieved. In addition, the separation of different material families and processes into different deposition chambers avoids contamination that typically occurs when multiple materials are present in the same deposition chamber. The facility will hence act as a high-throughput thin-film deposition tool with ultimate accuracy in multi-layer deposition and device construction for a broad range of materials and applications. It will be complementary (and synergetic) to existing solution-processed techniques in which the UK is already very strong, and fill a strategic gap in the UK's research & development portfolio. The facility will be unique world-wide and place the UK at the center of the development of next-generation materials and devices for applications in energy, photonics and electronics. The facility will act as an epicenter for novel thin film development within the UK, enhancing the coherent research effort funded by EPSRC. Existing links between academia and industry will be strengthened and new links made as this industrially relevant capability delivers new materials and devices with novel functionality to a growing technology industry.