Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080264341 | APPARATUS FOR CATHODIC VACUUM-ARC COATING DEPOSITION - Apparatus for cathodic vacuum-arc coating deposition. The apparatus includes a mixing chamber, at least one input duct projecting from a first end wall of the mixing chamber, and an output duct projecting from a second end wall of the mixing chamber. Coupled with each input duct is a plasma source adapted to discharge an ion flow of a coating material into the mixing chamber, which is subsequently directed to the output duct. A first solenoidal coil disposed about a side wall of the mixing chamber creates a first magnetic field inside the mixing chamber for steering the ion flow. A second solenoidal coil is disposed adjacent to the first end wall and aligned substantially coaxially with the output duct. The second solenoidal coil creates a second magnetic field inside the mixing chamber for steering the first ion flow. The electrical currents flow through the first and second solenoidal coils in opposite solenoidal directions. | 10-30-2008 |
20090017190 | Movable injectors in rotating disc gas reactors - A system and method for uniform deposition of material layers on wafers in a rotating disk chemical vapor deposition reaction system is provided, wherein one or more substrates are rotated on a carrier about an axis while maintaining surfaces of the one or more substrates substantially perpendicular to the axis of rotation and facing in an upstream direction along the axis of rotation. During rotating a first gas is discharged in the downstream direction towards the one or more substrates from a first set of gas inlets. A second gas is discharged in the downstream direction towards the one or more substrates from at least one movable gas injector, and the at least one movable gas inlet is moved with a component of motion in a radial direction towards or away from the axis of rotation. | 01-15-2009 |
20090098306 | Method and Apparatus for Surface Processing of a Substrate Using an Energetic Particle Beam - Method and apparatus for processing a substrate with an energetic particle beam. Features on the substrate are oriented relative to the energetic particle beam and the substrate is scanned through the energetic particle beam. The substrate is periodically indexed about its azimuthal axis of symmetry, while shielded from exposure to the energetic particle beam, to reorient the features relative to the major dimension of the beam. | 04-16-2009 |
20100221426 | Web Substrate Deposition System - A web substrate atomic layer deposition system includes at least one roller that transports a surface of a web substrate through a plurality of processing chambers. The plurality of processing chambers includes a first precursor reaction chamber that exposes the surface of the web substrate to a desired partial pressure of first precursor gas, thereby forming a first layer on the surface of the web substrate. A purging chamber purges the surface of the web substrate with a purge gas. A vacuum chamber removes gas from the surface of the substrate. A second precursor reaction chamber exposes the surface of the web substrate to a desired partial pressure of the second precursor gas, thereby forming a second layer on the surface of the web substrate. | 09-02-2010 |
20100291308 | Web Substrate Deposition System - A deposition system includes a drum for supporting a web substrate during deposition that defines a plurality of apertures in an outer surface for passing cooling gas. A gas manifold includes an input that is coupled to an output of a gas source and at least one output that is coupled to the plurality of apertures in the outer surface of the drum. The gas manifold provides gas to the plurality of apertures that flows between the outer surface of the drum and the web substrate, thereby increasing heat transfer from the web substrate to the drum. At least one deposition source is positioned so that material deposits on the web substrate. | 11-18-2010 |
20100310766 | Roll-to-Roll Chemical Vapor Deposition System - A roll-to-roll CVD system includes at least two rollers that transport a web through a deposition chamber during CVD processing. The deposition chamber defines a passage for the web to pass through while being transported by the at least two rollers. The deposition chamber includes a plurality of process chambers that are isolated by barriers which maintain separate process chemistry in each of the plurality of process chambers. Each of the plurality of process chambers includes a gas input port and a gas exhaust port, and a plurality of CVD gas sources. At least two of the plurality of CVD gas sources is coupled to the gas input port of each of the plurality of process chambers. | 12-09-2010 |
20100310769 | Continuous Feed Chemical Vapor Deposition System - A continuous feed CVD system includes a wafer transport mechanism that transport a wafer through a deposition chamber during CVD processing. The deposition chamber defines a passage for the wafer to pass through while being transported by the wafer transport mechanism. The deposition chamber includes a plurality of process chambers that are isolated by barriers which maintain separate process chemistry in each of the plurality of process chambers. Each of the plurality of process chambers includes a gas input port and a gas exhaust port, and a plurality of CVD gas sources. At least two of the plurality of CVD gas sources are coupled to the gas input port of each of the plurality of process chambers. | 12-09-2010 |
20100330787 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR ULTRA-SHALLOW IMPLANTATION IN A SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE - Methods and devices for forming an ultra-thin doping layer in a semiconductor substrate include introducing a thin film of a dopant onto a surface of the substrate and driving at least a portion of the thin dopant layer into a surface of the semiconductor. Gas ions used in the driving-in process may be inert to minimize contamination during the drive in process. The thin films can be deposited using know methods, such as physical deposition and atomic layer deposition. The dopant layers can be driven into the surface of the semiconductor using known techniques, such as pulsed plasma discharge and ion beam. In some embodiments, a standard ion implanter can be retrofit to include a deposition source. | 12-30-2010 |
20110262628 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR INLINE CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION - Disclosed are an inline chemical vapor deposition method and system for fabricating a device. The method includes transporting a web or discrete substrate through a deposition chamber having a plurality of deposition modules. A buffer layer, a window layer and a transparent conductive layer are deposited onto the substrate during passage through a first deposition module, a second deposition module and a third deposition module, respectively. Advantageously, the steps for generating the buffer layer, window layer and transparent conductive layer are performed sequentially in a common vacuum environment of a single deposition chamber and the use of a conventional chemical bath deposition process to deposit the buffer layer is eliminated. The method is suitable for the manufacture of different types of devices including various types of solar cells such as copper indium gallium diselenide solar cells. | 10-27-2011 |
20110262641 | INLINE CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION SYSTEM - An inline CVD system includes a manifold and a continuous transport system. The manifold has a plurality of ports. The ports include a first precursor port, a pair of second precursor ports and a pair of pumping ports. The first precursor port is disposed between the second precursor ports and the pair of second precursor ports is disposed between the pumping ports. The first precursor port and the pair of second precursor ports are configured for coupling to a first precursor gas source and a second precursor gas source, respectively, and the pumping ports are configured to couple to a discharge system to exhaust the first and second precursor gases during a CVD process. The continuous transport system transports a substrate adjacent to the plurality of ports during the CVD process. | 10-27-2011 |
20110293831 | LINEAR BATCH CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION SYSTEM - Described is a linear batch CVD system that includes a deposition chamber, one or more substrate carriers, gas injectors and a heating system. Each substrate carrier is disposed in the deposition chamber and has at least one receptacle configured to receive a substrate. The substrate carriers are configured to hold substrates in a linear configuration. Each gas injector includes a port configured to supply a gas in a uniform distribution across one or more of the substrates. The heating system includes at least one heating element and a heating control module for uniformly controlling a temperature of the substrates. The system is suitable for high volume CVD processing of substrates. The narrow width of the deposition chamber enables a uniform distribution of precursor gases across the substrates along the length of the reaction chamber and permits a greater number of substrates to be processed in comparison to conventional deposition chambers. | 12-01-2011 |
20120006520 | COOLING APPARATUS FOR A WEB DEPOSITION SYSTEM - Described are an apparatus and a method for cooling a web. The apparatus includes an inner cylinder having a void therein and configured for coupling to a gas source. The apparatus also includes an outer cylinder having an inner surface, an outer surface to support a web and apertures between the inner and outer surfaces. The outer cylinder rotates about the inner cylinder so that gas provided to the void of the inner cylinder flows through the apertures that are adjacent to the void and passes to the outer surface of the outer cylinder to increase the heat transfer between the web and the outer cylinder. The volume of gas introduced into the vacuum deposition chamber during a process run is thereby limited. Advantageously, the apparatus enables higher deposition rates and increased productivity. | 01-12-2012 |
20120031604 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FABRICATING THIN-FILM PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICES - Described is a vapor trap that enables the capture of material from the condensate of a vapor. The vapor trap includes an inner module, outer module and cooling system. The inner module has a transport channel to pass a web substrate or discrete substrate, and to limit conductance of the vapor. Plenums extend from the transport channel to an outer surface of the inner module. The inner module is configured to be at a temperature that is greater than a condensation temperature of the vapor. The outer module includes collection surfaces disposed across from the outer ends of the plenums. The temperature of the collection surfaces is less that a condensation temperature of the vapor. In various embodiments, the vapor trap is a selenium trap that can be used, for example, in a copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) deposition system for fabrication of thin film solar cells and modules. | 02-09-2012 |
20120034733 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FABRICATING THIN-FILM PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICES - Described are a system and a method for depositing a thin film on a substrate. In some embodiments, the system includes a substrate transport system to transport a plurality of discrete substrates, such as glass substrates or wafers, along a closed path. The system also includes a metal deposition zone, a selenization zone and a cooling chamber each disposed on the closed path. During transport along the closed path, the metal deposition zone deposits a layer of a composite metal onto the discrete substrates and the selenization zone selenizes the layer of the composite metal. The cooling zone cools the discrete substrates prior to a subsequent pass through the metal deposition zone and the selenization zone. | 02-09-2012 |
20120034734 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FABRICATING THIN-FILM PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICES - Described are embodiments of methods for depositing a copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) film on a substrate, such as a web substrate or a discrete substrate. In various embodiments, an incremental layer of indium is deposited followed by deposition of a top incremental layer of copper gallium to create a multi-layer structure that is subsequently selenized. By capping the multi-layer structure with the copper gallium layer, the depletion of indium during the selenization of the multi-layer is reduced or eliminated. Additional multi-layers, each having a copper gallium cap layer, are formed and selenized to create the CIGS film. Optionally, the indium content and gallium content in each multi-layer are varied from the indium content and gallium content of one or more of the other multi-layers to achieve desired content gradients in the CIGS film. | 02-09-2012 |
20120034764 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FABRICATING THIN-FILM PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICES - Described are an apparatus and a method for depositing a thin film on a web. The method includes depositing a first layer of a composite metal onto a web. A first selenium layer is deposited onto the first layer and the web is heated to selenize the first layer. Subsequently, a second layer of the composite metal is deposited onto the selenized first layer and a second selenium layer is deposited onto the second layer. The web is then heated to selenize the second layer. The composition of each composite metal layer can be varied to achieve desired bandgap gradients and other film properties. Segregation of gallium and indium is substantially reduced or eliminated because each incremental layer is selenized before the next incremental layer is deposited. The method can be implemented in production systems to deposit CIGS films on metal and plastic foils. | 02-09-2012 |
20120070916 | MOVABLE INJECTORS IN ROTATING DISC GAS REACTORS - A system and method for uniform deposition of material layers on wafers in a rotating disk chemical vapor deposition reaction system is provided, wherein one or more substrates are rotated on a carrier about an axis while maintaining surfaces of the one or more substrates substantially perpendicular to the axis of rotation and facing in an upstream direction along the axis of rotation. During rotating a first gas is discharged in the downstream direction towards the one or more substrates from a first set of gas inlets. A second gas is discharged in the downstream direction towards the one or more substrates from at least one movable gas injector, and the at least one movable gas inlet is moved with a component of motion in a radial direction towards or away from the axis of rotation. | 03-22-2012 |
20120219713 | PARALLEL BATCH CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION SYSTEM - Described is a parallel batch CVD system that includes a pair of linear deposition chambers in a parallel arrangement and a robotic loading module disposed between the chambers. Each chamber includes a linear arrangement of substrate receptacles, gas injectors to supply at least one gas in a uniform distribution across the substrates, and a heating module for uniformly controlling a temperature of the substrates. The robotic loading module is configured for movement in a direction parallel to a length of each of the chambers and includes at least one cassette for carrying substrates to be loaded into the substrate receptacles of the chambers. The parallel batch CVD system is suitable for high volume processing of substrates. The CVD processes performed in the chambers can be the same process. Alternatively, the CVD processes may be different and substrates processed in one chamber may be subsequently processed in the other chamber. | 08-30-2012 |
20130224904 | METHOD FOR FABRICATING THIN-FILM PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICES - Described are an apparatus and a method for depositing a thin film on a web. The method includes depositing a first layer of a composite metal onto a web. A first selenium layer is deposited onto the first layer and the web is heated to selenize the first layer. Subsequently, a second layer of the composite metal is deposited onto the selenized first layer and a second selenium layer is deposited onto the second layer. The web is then heated to selenize the second layer. The composition of each composite metal layer can be varied to achieve desired bandgap gradients and other film properties. Segregation of gallium and indium is substantially reduced or eliminated because each incremental layer is selenized before the next incremental layer is deposited. The method can be implemented in production systems to deposit CIGS films on metal and plastic foils. | 08-29-2013 |
20130255922 | WEB COOLING DEVICE FOR A VACUUM PROCESSING SYSTEM - Described are a device and a method for cooling a web in a vacuum processing system. The device includes a heat transfer module, a coolant path and a gas injector. The heat transfer module has a first end, a second end opposite the first end, and a pair of cooling surfaces extending between the first and second ends. The first end receives a transported web in a vacuum environment and the second provides the transported web after passage through a web transport path between the cooling surfaces. The coolant path is in thermal communication with the heat transfer module to maintain the cooling surfaces at a temperature less than the temperature of the transported web. The gas injector supplies gas to the web transport path between the cooling surfaces so that heat is efficiently conducted from the transported web to the cooling surfaces. | 10-03-2013 |
20130270362 | SHOWERHEAD APPARATUS FOR A LINEAR BATCH CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION SYSTEM - A showerhead apparatus for a linear batch CVD system includes a movable showerhead, one or more gas supply conduits, and a translation mechanism. Each gas supply conduit provides a precursor gas to the showerhead. The showerhead includes conduits and channels arranged along the length of the showerhead to distribute precursor gas to the surfaces of substrates. The small distance between the substrates and the showerhead limits precursor gas flows from the channels to a small portion of each substrate beneath the showerhead. During a deposition process run, the translation mechanism causes the showerhead to move back and forth over the substrates along a direction perpendicular to a linear arrangement of the substrates. Parasitic deposition within the deposition chamber is substantially reduced in comparison to conventional showerhead apparatus. The ability to accurately control the precursor gas flows and the motion of the showerhead allows for improved thickness uniformity and device yield. | 10-17-2013 |
20140033976 | HEATING SYSTEM FOR A ROLL-TO-ROLL DEPOSITION SYSTEM - Disclosed is a heating system for a roll-to-roll tape deposition system. The heating system includes a sacrificial tape that is transported through a deposition zone between a susceptor plate and a process tape. The sacrificial tape receives an accumulation of deposition material that otherwise may accumulate on the susceptor plate and reduce its efficiency and temperature uniformity. In some embodiments, the sacrificial tape is heated by passage of an electrical current, thereby allowing the sacrificial tape to replace the susceptor plate and separate heating elements used to heat the process tape. The sacrificial tape may be provided on a payout roll that passes through the deposition system to a takeup roll or in the form of a continuous loop of tape. | 02-06-2014 |
20140331931 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR INLINE CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION - Disclosed are an inline chemical vapor deposition method and system for fabricating a device. The method includes transporting a web or discrete substrate through a deposition chamber having a plurality of deposition modules. A buffer layer, a window layer and a transparent conductive layer are deposited onto the substrate during passage through a first deposition module, a second deposition module and a third deposition module, respectively. Advantageously, the steps for generating the buffer layer, window layer and transparent conductive layer are performed sequentially in a common vacuum environment of a single deposition chamber and the use of a conventional chemical bath deposition process to deposit the buffer layer is eliminated. The method is suitable for the manufacture of different types of devices including various types of solar cells such as copper indium gallium diselenide solar cells. | 11-13-2014 |