Rapid Synthesis of Epitaxial Semiconductors for Energy Applications

这笔赠款将开发新的制造方法，以形成下一代太阳能电池所需的关键材料和结构。目前的制造技术是基于半导体的批量处理，通常使用缓慢的外延生长速度。这项工作将证明，连续加工可以成为制造薄膜外延太阳能电池的一种新方法，它将使快速、高生长速度合成外延半导体材料成为可能。任务包括开发原型制造设备、新的优化方法和产品质量测量。现有的材料生长模型将被扩展到探索限速步骤，这些模型将被用来减缓影响器件性能的点缺陷的发展。这项研究的结果将是关于在高生长速率下合成的材料性质的知识以及在太阳能应用中改善其性能的方法。半导体材料的快速合成和对极高增长率对材料性能的影响的了解，为开启新的制造制度提供了必要的基本信息。这笔赠款的工作将为新类别的半导体制造工具开发设计和优化方法。一些技术的广泛发展和扩大，特别是太阳能光伏和固态照明，都是能源领域的关键，它们将受益于工具设计和工艺开发的新方法，因为它们将转向能够提供新经济和打开新的工艺设计方法的连续、非批量加工，这些方法还没有被探索和利用。

This grant will develop new manufacturing approaches to the formation of critical materials and structures required for next generation solar cells. Current manufacturing technologies are based on batch processing of semiconductors, typically using slow epitaxial growth rates. This work will demonstrate that continuous processing can be a new approach to thin film epitaxial solar cell manufacturing that will enable rapid, high growth rate synthesis of epitaxial semiconductor materials. Tasks include the development of prototype manufacturing equipment, novel optimization approaches and product quality measurements. Existing material growth models will be extended to explore the rate- limiting steps and these models will be used to mitigate the development of point defects which affect the device performance.The outcome of this research will be both the knowledge of the materials properties synthesized at high growth rates as well as approaches for improving their performance in solar applications. The rapid synthesis of semiconductor materials and the understanding of the impact of very high growth rate on materials properties provide fundamental information required to open new manufacturing regimes. The work of this grant will develop the design and optimization approaches for new classes of semiconductor manufacturing tools. The widespread development and expansion of several technologies, specifically solar photovoltaics and solid-state lighting, which are both key to the energy field, will benefit from the new approaches in tool design and process development as they move to a continuous, non-batch processing that can provide new economies and open new process design approaches which have been unexplored and unexploited.