This report discusses the project results and lessons learnt to date for the UNSW Project, Accelerating Industrial Solar Cells Efficiency by Development of Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition (PECVD) – based Metal Oxides.
Report extract
In our project we are aiming to develop plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) processes for metal oxides. To achieve this goal, in phase one of the project we set out to modify an existing PECVD tool (AK-800, Meyer Burger) to enable the development of PECVD-based metal oxides focusing on titanium oxide (TiOx) and tungsten oxide (WOx). So far, we were able to successfully deposit TiOx from titanium (IV) isopropoxide (TTIP) using the modified AK-800. However, our process is not yet ready to be used for material development as it is not reproducible. This is due to the hardware configuration which was designed for the proof-of-concept only.
For the second phase we are therefore planning to install a more sophisticated system. To that end we discussed with our partners at Meyer Burger (Germany) who are helping us design an advanced precursor delivery system that will ensure a controllable and constant precursor flow, which is the weak point of the initial home-built system. This new system is currently being fabricated at Meyer Burger’s facilities in Germany and should be delivered within the next 6-8 weeks.
