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（公法111-5）资助的。这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）二期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。与大多数竞争工艺相比，薄膜的生长温度更低。所开发的沉积工艺的一个关键优势是它能够在不需要后处理的情况下生产tco（以实现良好的电阻率和透明度），从而简化了与大型扁平聚合物基板的大批量加工相兼容的工艺。该项目将演示与替代TCO材料和光伏应用兼容的过程。这项技术更广泛的影响/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为许多设备带来重大突破。多年来，硅（Si）太阳能电池一直是太阳能产业的支柱，它使用单晶硅衬底和多层pn结二极管。然而，主要的限制因素之一是光伏应用硅的短缺，因为它与半导体行业现有的需求竞争。许多不同的PV替代品正在积极开发中，它们利用TCO材料提供导电阳极、阴极或两者兼而有之。薄膜太阳能电池是硅基太阳能电池的一个很好的替代品，只要制造成本可以降低。薄膜太阳能电池使用微米厚度的半导体材料层，并沉积在玻璃，不锈钢或柔性基板上。生产光伏装置的一种经济有效的方法是使用聚合物。然而，目前聚合物基光伏器件的器件性能较低，但可以通过在聚合物基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，如果证明TCO薄膜的制造可以在较低温度下在大面积柔性基板上完成，则该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.