Thin film deposition via a spatially-coordinated and time-synchronized process
First Claim
1. A method of forming a thin film material comprising:
- providing a deposition chamber;
said deposition chamber including a substrate, a first cathode, a first anode, a first delivery device, and a second delivery device;
said deposition chamber having a first direction extending from said first cathode to said first anode;
said first delivery device including a first delivery point;
said second delivery device including a second delivery point positioned between said first delivery point and said substrate;
said second delivery point being spatially displaced from said first delivery point in said first direction;
providing a first material stream to said first delivery device, said first delivery device injecting said first material stream into said deposition chamber;
establishing an electric field between said first cathode and said first anode, said electric field initiating a plasma, said plasma comprising species derived from said first material stream; and
providing a second material stream to said second delivery device, said second delivery device injecting said second material stream into said plasma to form a composite plasma, said composite plasma comprising species derived from said first material stream and said second material stream.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A deposition system and process for the formation of thin film materials. In one embodiment, the process includes forming an initial plasma from a first material stream and allowing the plasma to evolve in space and/or time to extinguish species that are detrimental to the quality of the thin film material. After the initial plasma evolves to an optimum state, a second material stream is injected into the deposition chamber to form a composite plasma that contains a distribution of species more conducive to formation of a high quality thin film material. The deposition system includes a deposition chamber having a plurality of delivery points for injecting two or more streams (source materials or carrier gases) into a plasma region. The delivery points are staggered in space to permit an upstream plasma formed from a first material stream deposition source material to evolve before combining a downstream material stream with the plasma. Injection of different material streams is also synchronized in time. The net effect of spatial coordination and time synchronization of material streams is a plasma whose distribution of species is optimized for the deposition of a thin film photovoltaic material at high deposition rates. Delivery devices include nozzles and remote plasma sources.
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Citations
133 Claims
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1. A method of forming a thin film material comprising:
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providing a deposition chamber;
said deposition chamber including a substrate, a first cathode, a first anode, a first delivery device, and a second delivery device;
said deposition chamber having a first direction extending from said first cathode to said first anode;
said first delivery device including a first delivery point;
said second delivery device including a second delivery point positioned between said first delivery point and said substrate;
said second delivery point being spatially displaced from said first delivery point in said first direction;providing a first material stream to said first delivery device, said first delivery device injecting said first material stream into said deposition chamber; establishing an electric field between said first cathode and said first anode, said electric field initiating a plasma, said plasma comprising species derived from said first material stream; and providing a second material stream to said second delivery device, said second delivery device injecting said second material stream into said plasma to form a composite plasma, said composite plasma comprising species derived from said first material stream and said second material stream. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A method of forming a thin film material comprising:
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providing a deposition chamber;
said deposition chamber including a substrate, a cathode, an anode, a first delivery device, and a second delivery device;
said deposition chamber having a first direction extending from said cathode to said anode and a second direction extending from said anode to said substrate;
said first delivery device including a first delivery point positioned between said anode and cathode;
said second delivery device including a second delivery point positioned between said anode and said substrate;providing a first material stream to said first delivery device, said first delivery device injecting said first material stream between said cathode and said anode; establishing an electric field between said cathode and said anode, said electric field forming a plasma region between said cathode and said anode, said plasma region comprising a plasma, said plasma including species derived from said first material stream; and providing a second material stream to said second delivery device, said second delivery device injecting said second material stream between said anode and said substrate. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78)
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79. A method for forming a thin film material comprising:
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providing a deposition chamber, said deposition chamber including a substrate, a first remote plasma source having a first injection point and a first delivery device having a second injection point; providing a first material stream to said first remote plasma source, said first remote plasma source injecting a plasma comprising said first material stream into said deposition chamber at said first injection point; and providing a second material stream to said first delivery device, said first delivery device injecting said second material stream into said deposition chamber at said second injection point. - View Dependent Claims (80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108)
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109. A method of forming a thin film material comprising:
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providing a deposition chamber;
said deposition chamber including a substrate, a first cathode, a second cathode, a first anode, a first delivery device, and a second delivery device;
said first delivery device including a first delivery point positioned between said first cathode and said first anode;
said second delivery device including a second delivery point positioned between said second cathode and said first anode;establishing a first electric field between said first cathode and said first anode; establishing a second electric field between said second cathode and said first anode; providing a first material stream to said first delivery device, said first delivery device injecting said first material stream into said first electric field, said first electric field forming a plasma from said first material stream; and providing a second material stream to said second delivery device, said second delivery device injecting said second material stream into said second electric field, said second electric field forming a plasma from said second material stream. - View Dependent Claims (110, 111)
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112. A method of forming a thin film material comprising:
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providing a deposition chamber;
said deposition chamber including a substrate, a first cathode, a first anode, and a first delivery device;
said first delivery device including a first delivery point;establishing an electric field between said first cathode and said first anode; and providing a first material stream to said first delivery device, said first delivery device intermittently injecting said first material stream into said electric field, said electric field forming a plasma, said plasma comprising species from said first material stream. - View Dependent Claims (113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133)
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Specification