SBIR PHASE I: Closed-Field Magnetron Sputtering with RF Plasma Enhancement for Large Flat Panel Displays

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) proposes to build and diagnose a new type of Magnetron cathode system which will be particular application in the manufacture of flat panel displays. Transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) including the Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) provide a fundamentally enhanced capability for a number of display technologies. Newer technologies, including Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) are highly promising replacements for existing products (based on the incandescent light bulb technology) if the manufacturing yield can be improved. A key goal of OLED manufacture is to create devices on flexible substrates like plastic films. Large area deposition systems suffer from difficulties in co-locating the required deposition processes, leading to difficulties in controlling and taking advantage of the interactions between processes. The proposed unique arrangement of magnetron targets with the auxiliary ion source will allow tunable control of processes that till now have operated independently. The proposed technology will allow significant reduction in the process temperatures in the fabrication process, thereby improving process yield as well as defects in the devices over the currently used TCO deposition techniques, and also permit use of temperature-sensitive substrates such as plastic films. The broader impacts of the proposed technology, if successful, will be to significantly improve the current manufacturing processes for flat panel displays. The new equipment design will enable development of other thin film deposition technologies for large-area substrates, and even allow manufacture of application-specific turnkey systems. The various industrial technologies used in microelectronics, such as flexible and thin panel television, cell phones and other portable electronic devices, films for large-area windows designed for thermal insulation without impairing visibility, etc. are some of the advanced applications which be enabled by this technology. The company's established marketing channels will ensure rapid implementation of the new technology into the industrial production systems, and will provide the U.S. with a significant leadership position in the global marketplace. The involvement of a university expert and his team will ensure that the the young scientists and engineers of tomorrow will be able to participate in the cutting-edge research that ties their classroom studies with practical applications of the findamental principles.