Applied Materials, Inc.

The State University of New York

Silevo, Inc.

Solarcity Corporation

Applied Material, Inc.

Sierra Solar Power, Inc.

Peijun Ding

Barry Lee Chin

Tony P Chiang

Zheng Xu

Gongda Yao

Fusen E Chen

Jianming Fu

Hong Zhang

Gene Y Kohara

Suraj Rengarajan

Imran Hashim

Arvind Sundarrajan

John C Forster

Bingxi Sun

Xianmin Tang

Praburam Gopalraja

Daniel Clarence Lubben

Michael A Miller

Rong Tao

James H Tsung

Howard H Tang

Ilyoung R Hong

Nirmalya Maity

Hougong Wang

Tse-Yong Yao

Richard Hong

Anish Tolia

Yu D Cong

William A Lanford

Mengqi Ye

Keith A Miller

Roderick Craig Mosely

Yan Rozenzon

Zhendong Liu

Steve Poppe

Darryl Angelo

Ashok K Sinha

Tza-Jing Gung

Ilya Lavitsky

Goichi Yoshidome

Michael Rosenstein

Marc O Schweitzer

Chentao Yu

Hoa Thi Kieu

Dinesh Saigal

Wei Wang

Shri Singhvi

David Z Chen

Steve Lai

Xiaole Yan

Gunnar Vatvedt

Yezdi N Dordi

Robin W Cheung

Ling Chen

Robert B Lowrance

Avi Tepman

Fuhong Zhang

Hyman J Levinstein

Jiunn Benjamin Heng

Liang Light Chen

Jick M Yu

Daniel A Carl

Kenny King-Tai Ngan

Sergio Edelstein

Donny Young

Barney M Cohen

Peter W Hey

Jie Chen

James Van Gogh

Dan Carl

Jianjun Liang

Xiangbing Li

Haojiang Li

Debabrata Ghosh

Allen Thompson

Guanghua Song

Tram Vo

Sreekrishnan Sankaranarayan

Hsien-Lung Yang

Imran Hasim

A magnetron sputter reactor for sputtering deposition materials such as tantalum, tantalum nitride and copper, for example, and its method of use, in which self-ionized plasma (SIP) sputtering and inductively coupled plasma (ICP) sputtering are promoted, either together or alternately, in the same or different chambers. Also, bottom coverage may be thinned or eliminated by ICP resputtering in one chamber and SIP in another. SIP is promoted by a small magnetron having poles of unequal magnetic strength and a high power applied to the target during sputtering. ICP is provided by one or more RF coils which inductively couple RF energy into a plasma. The combined SIP-ICP layers can act as a liner or barrier or seed or nucleation layer for hole. In addition, an RF coil may be sputtered to provide protective material during ICP resputtering. In another chamber an array of auxiliary magnets positioned along sidewalls of a magnetron sputter reactor on a side towards the wafer from the target. The magnetron preferably is a small, strong one having a stronger outer pole of a first magnetic polarity surrounding a weaker outer pole of a second magnetic polarity and rotates about the central axis of the chamber. The auxiliary magnets preferably have the first magnetic polarity to draw the unbalanced magnetic field component toward the wafer. The auxiliary magnets may be either permanent magnets or electromagnets.

Self-ionized and inductively-coupled plasma for sputtering and resputtering

We disclose a method of applying a sculptured layer of material on a semiconductor feature surface using ion deposition sputtering, wherein a surface onto which the sculptured layer is applied is protected to resist erosion and contamination by impacting ions of a depositing layer. A first protective layer of material is deposited on a substrate surface using traditional sputtering or ion deposition sputtering, in combination with sufficiently low substrate bias that a surface onto which the layer is applied is not eroded away or contaminated during deposition of the protective layer. Subsequently, a sculptured second layer of material is applied using ion deposition sputtering at an increased substrate bias, to sculpture a shape from a portion of the first protective layer of material and the second layer of depositing material. The method is particularly applicable to the sculpturing of barrier layers, wetting layers, and conductive layers upon semiconductor feature surfaces.

Method for depositing a diffusion barrier layer and a metal conductive layer

One embodiment of the present invention provides a double-sided heterojunction solar cell module. The solar cell includes a frontside glass cover, a backside glass cover situated below the frontside glass cover, and a number of solar cells situated between the frontside glass cover and the backside glass cover. Each solar cell includes a semiconductor multilayer structure situated below the frontside glass cover, including: a frontside electrode grid, a first layer of heavily doped amorphous Si (a-Si) situated below the frontside electrode, a layer of lightly doped crystalline-Si (c-Si) situated below the first layer of heavily doped a-Si, and a layer of heavily doped c-Si situated below the lightly doped c-Si layer. The solar cell also includes a second layer of heavily doped a-Si situated below the multilayer structure; and a backside electrode situated below the second layer of heavily doped a-Si.

Low-cost high-efficiency solar module using epitaxial Si thin-film absorber and double-sided heterojunction solar cell with integrated module fabrication

We disclose a method of applying a sculptured layer of material on a semiconductor feature surface using ion deposition sputtering, wherein a surface onto which the sculptured layer is applied is protected to resist erosion and contamination by impacting ions of a depositing layer, A first protective layer of material is deposited on a substrate surface using traditional sputtering or ion deposition sputtering, in combination with sufficiently low substrate bias that a surface onto which the layer is applied is not eroded away or contaminated during deposition of the protective layer. Subsequently, a sculptured second layer of material is applied using ion deposition sputtering at an increased substrate bias, to sculpture a shape from a portion of the first protective layer of material and the second layer of depositing material. The method is particularly applicable to the sculpturing of barrier layers, wetting layers, and conductive layers upon semiconductor feature surfaces.

One embodiment provides a reactor for material deposition. The reactor includes a chamber and at least one gas nozzle. The chamber includes a pair of susceptors, each having a front side and a back side. The front side mounts a number of substrates. The susceptors are positioned vertically so that the front sides of the susceptors face each other, and the vertical edges of the susceptors are in contact with each other, thereby forming a substantially enclosed narrow channel between the substrates mounted on different susceptors. The gas nozzle includes a gas-inlet component situated in the center and a detachable gas-outlet component stacked around the gas-inlet component. The gas-inlet component includes at least one opening coupled to the chamber, and is configured to inject precursor gases into the chamber. The detachable gas-outlet component includes at least one opening coupled to the chamber, and is configured to output exhaust gases from the chamber.

Stackable multi-port gas nozzles

One embodiment provides an apparatus for material deposition. The apparatus includes a reaction chamber, and a pair of susceptors. Each susceptor has a front side mounting substrates and a back side. The front sides of the vertically positioned susceptors face each other, and the vertical edges of the susceptors are in contact with each other. The apparatus also includes a number of gas nozzles for injecting reaction gases. The gas flow directions inside the chamber can be alternated by controlling the gas nozzles. The gas nozzles are configured to inject a small amount of purge gas including at least one of: HCl, SiCl, and Hwhen the gas nozzles are not injecting reaction gas. The apparatus includes a number of heating units situated outside the reaction chamber. The heating units are arranged in such a way that they radiate heat energy directly to the back sides of the susceptors.

Scalable, high-throughput, multi-chamber epitaxial reactor for silicon deposition

A magnetron sputter reactor () and its method of use, in which SIP sputtering and ICP sputtering are promoted is disclosed. In another chamber () an array of auxiliary magnets positioned along sidewalls () of a magnetron sputter reactor on a side towards the wafer from the target is disclosed. The magnetron () preferably is a small one having a stronger outer pole () of a first polarity surrounding a weaker inner pole () of a second polarity all on a yoke () and rotates about the axis () of the chamber using rotation means (). The auxiliary magnets () preferably have the first polarity to draw the unbalanced magnetic field () towards the wafer (), which is on a pedestal () supplied with power (). Argon () is supplied through a valve (). The target () is supplied with power ().

One embodiment provides an apparatus for material deposition. The apparatus includes a reaction chamber, and a pair of susceptors. Each susceptor has a front side and a back side, and the front side mounts substrates. The susceptors are positioned vertically in such a way that the front sides of the susceptors face each other, and the vertical edges of the susceptors are in contact with each other, thereby forming a substantially enclosed narrow channel between the substrates. The apparatus also includes a number of gas nozzles for injecting reaction gases. The gas nozzles are controlled in such a way that gas flow directions inside the chamber can be alternated, thereby facilitating uniform material deposition. The apparatus includes a number of heating units situated outside the reaction chamber. The heating units are arranged in such a way that they radiate heat energy directly to the back sides of the susceptors.

One embodiment of the present invention provides a method for fabricating a solar cell. The method includes: melting a metallurgical-grade (MG) Si feedstock, lowering a single-crystalline Si seed to touch the surface of the molten MG-Si, slowly pulling out a single-crystal Si ingot of the molten MG-Si, processing the Si ingot into single crystal Si wafers to form MG-Si substrates for subsequent epitaxial growth, leaching out residual metal impurities in the MG-Si substrate, epitaxially growing a layer of single-crystal Si thin film doped with boron on the MG-Si substrate, doping phosphor to the single-crystal Si thin film to form an emitter layer, depositing an anti-reflection layer on top of the single-crystal Si thin film, and forming the front and the back electrical contacts.

Solar cells fabricated by using CVD epitaxial Si films on metallurgical-grade Si wafers

A plasma sputtering method for metal chalcogenides, such as germanium antimony telluride (GST), useful in forming phase-change memories. The substrate is held at a selected temperature at which the material deposits in either an amorphous or crystalline form. GST has a low-temperature amorphous range and a high-temperature crystalline range separated by a transition band of 105-120&#xb0; C. Bipolar pulsed sputtering with less than 50% positive pulses of less than 10:s pulse width cleans the target while maintain the sputtering plasma. The temperature of chamber shields is maintained at a temperature favoring crystalline deposition or they may be coated with arc-spray aluminum or with crystallographically aligned copper or aluminum.

Sputtering of thermally resistive materials including metal chalcogenides

Sputtering in a physical vapor deposition (PVD) chamber may, in one embodiment, utilize a target laterally offset from and tilted with respect to the substrate. In another aspect, target power may be reduced to enhance film protection. In yet another aspect, magnetron magnets may be relatively strong and well balanced to enhance film protection. In another aspect, a shutter may be provided to protect the substrate in start up conditions. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Protective offset sputtering

A method of depositing a metal seed layer with underlying barrier layer on a wafer substrate comprising a plurality of recessed device features. A first portion of the barrier layer is deposited on the wafer substrate without excessive build-up of barrier layer material on the openings to the plurality of recessed device features, while obtaining bottom coverage without substantial sputtering of the bottom surface. Subsequently, a metal seed layer is deposited using the same techniques used to deposit the barrier layer, to avoid excessive build up of metal seed layer material on the openings to the features, with minimal sputtering of the barrier layer surface.

Method of depositing a uniform barrier layer and metal seed layer with reduced overhang over a plurality of recessed semiconductor features

We disclose a method of depositing a metal seed layer on a wafer substrate comprising a plurality of recessed device features. The method comprises depositing a first portion of a copper seed layer on a wafer substrate without excessive build-up on the openings of each of the plurality of recessed device features, while obtaining bottom coverage without substantial sputtering of the bottom surface. The method also comprises depositing a second portion of the metal seed layer while redistributing at least a portion of the bottom coverage material to the sidewalls of each recessed device feature, to provide a uniform seed layer coverage over the interior surface of the recessed device features.

Method of depositing a uniform metal seed layer over a plurality of recessed semiconductor features

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Saratoga, CA, United States of America

Peijun Ding