High rate (∼7 nm/s), atmospheric pressure deposition of ZnO front electrode for Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin-film solar cells with efficiency beyond 15%

Undoped zinc oxide (ZnO) films have been grown on a moving glass substrate by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition at atmospheric pressure. High deposition rates of ∼7 nm/s are achieved at low temperature (200°C) for a substrate speed from 20 to 60 mm/min. ZnO films are highly transparent in the visible range (90%). By a short (∼minute)...

A new concept for spatially-divided Reactive Ion Etching with ALD-based passivation

Spatial Atomic Layer Deposition of transparent conductive oxides

Undoped and indium doped ZnO films have been grown by Spatial Atomic Layer Deposition at atmospheric pressure. The electrical properties of ZnO films are controlled by varying the indium content in the range from 0 to 15 %. A minimum resistivity value of 3 mΩ•cm is measured in 180 nm thick films for In/(In+Zn) ratio equal to 6 %, corresponding...

Spatial atmospheric atomic layer deposition of alxzn1-xo

The possibility of growing multicomponent oxides by spatial atmospheric atomic layer deposition has been investigated. To this end, Al xZn1-xO films have been deposited using diethyl zinc (DEZ), trimethyl aluminum (TMA), and water as Zn, Al, and O precursors, respectively. When the metal precursors (i.e., TMA and DEZ) are coinjected in the...

Concept of Spatially-Divided Deep Reactive Ion Etching of Si using Oxide Atomic Layer Deposition in the Passivation Cycle

Conventional Deep Reactive Ion Etching (DRIE) is a plasma etch process with alternating half-cycles of 1) Si-etching with SF6 to form gaseous SiFx etch products, and 2) passivation with C4F8 that polymerizes as a protecting fluorocarbon deposit on the sidewalls and bottom of the etched features. In this work we report on a novel alternative and...

Equipment for atmospheric, spatial atomic layer deposition in roll-to-roll processes

A novel type of reactor has been designed for atmospheric atomic layer deposition (ALD) on flexible substrates. In the reactor, a flexible substrate slowly advances around a fast rotating drum. Gas bearing technology is used to prevent physical contact between the flexible substrate and the drum, and to separate reactants to enable a spatial ALD...