WO2011131535A1

WO2011131535A1 - Method and device for producing electronic and/or energy generating and/or energy converting elements and components

Info

Publication number: WO2011131535A1
Application number: PCT/EP2011/055802
Authority: WO
Inventors: Nikita Hirsch; Boris Tarasov
Original assignee: Noecker, Sven
Priority date: 2010-04-22
Filing date: 2011-04-13
Publication date: 2011-10-27
Also published as: DE102010017844A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for producing an electronic and/or energy generating and/or energy converting element, characterized by activating and/or mobilizing and/or controlling quantum mechanical and/or quantum chemical effects and forces and/or an arbitrary combination thereof on the basis of applying particular energy influences.

Description

Method and device for producing electronic and / or energy-generating and / or energy-converting elements and components

The present invention relates to a method and a device for producing an electronic and / or energy-generating and / or energy-converting element.

Electronic elements, such as integrated circuits, or CHIP, power-generating elements, such as photovoltaic elements, and energy-converting elements, such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), and lasers, become essentially everywhere information is processed , transmitted, controlled, stored and projected to the outside, used.

The fields of application of such electronic and / or power-generating and / or energy-converting elements include computers, televisions, industrial equipment, advertising industry and many other fields.

Nowadays known electronic and / or energy-generating and / or energy-converting elements are based on various semiconductor materials and their compositions.

Inorganic semiconductors are used essentially for the production of electronic and / or energy-generating and / or energy-converting elements, in particular silicon, arsenide gallium and others. Such elements are usually firmly shaped.

It would be desirable to produce the electronic and / or energy-producing and / or energy-converting elements as well as semiconducting devices in various flexible forms.

For example, such flexible elements could be arbitrarily shaped during use and arbitrarily bent as they conform to the curved surface.

It would also be desirable to produce the electronic and / or energy-producing and / or energy-converting elements as well as semiconducting devices as simply as possible.

It would also be desirable to produce the electronic and / or energy-generating and / or energy-converting elements as well as semiconducting devices as cheaply as possible.

Nowadays, some processes for producing electronic and / or energy-producing and / or energy-converting elements and components are known.

Some of the best-known methods for producing electronic elements are the methods for producing integrated electronic circuit elements, which are usually also called microchips.

In the production of integrated circuits more and more complex manufacturing processes are required to accommodate more and more circuits on a floor space. With constantly improved process technologies, costs rose steadily. Over the past two decades, they have only been offset by a linear increase in the density of integration.

In the case of monolithic integrated circuits, all devices are fabricated on a single piece of single crystal semiconductor material.

Individual elements are produced by the doping by introducing impurities into the semiconductor structure or the epitaxy (the deposition with regular continuation of the crystal lattice of the substrate) on the surface of the substrate material or by layer application.

As further technological steps, the oxidation for the production of insulating layers in the form of silicon oxide, the metallization for the production of the contacts and printed conductors as well as the lithography (painting, masking, exposure, etching) for the structuring of the individual layers must be mentioned.

In the case of thin film circuits, the sputtering process is mostly used.

In the case of thick film hybrid circuits, multiple monolithic integrated circuits, printed circuit traces and other electronic elements are fabricated on a substrate in a thick film process.

Finally, in the process steps of the so-called back-end technology, the circuits are isolated (by sawing or scribing and increasingly with the use of lasers).

For the production of solar cells made of silicon, the liquid silicon is usually doped positive-conductive.

The starting materials are predominantly the monocrystalline silicon rods, which are cut into approximately 300 μm thin slices. The silicon blocks or plates are doped on a surface with a pentavalent element, either by passing suitable gases at high temperatures or by bombardment with ions. In addition, electrical contacts must be vapor-deposited or printed on the silicon wafers.

All of these technology steps are very costly and require very complex equipment and facilities, such as ion implantation plants, gas phase epitaxy plants, chemical vapor deposition plants, plasma assisted settling plants.

Yet another process has been developed for producing electronic and / or power-generating and / or energy-converting elements and components, the so-called roll-to-roll or roll-to-roll process.

In these processes, the semiconductor elements are placed on a flexible support by classical chemical vapor deposition or wet chemical deposition.

This process is also characterized as very expensive. The non-uniform densities at phase boundaries or phase transitions reduce the reproducibility of the electronic elements fabricated in this way as well as the efficiency of the photovoltaic devices fabricated in this way.

Another interesting process has been developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Liquid semiconductor materials of element groups II and VI were prepared and printed into transistors.

In experimentally fabricated thin film transistors, single, very small drops of the high purity cadmium selenide solution were dripped between base and gate electrodes of a chromium-gold alloy. In these methods, the question of replication is very important.

Another method describes WO2008124180 or US 2009/0046362 A1 - roll-to-roll nanoimprint lithography. UV nanoimprint is a lithography technology for the fabrication of nanoscale structures in the field of nanoelectronics, photonics and biotechnology.

The basic idea is the replication of structures which are etched into a template (stamp) by imprinting this template into a low viscosity UV curable resist. After filling all the hollows of the template with the paint, the lacquer layer is cured by means of UV light. In the final step, the template is removed and a 3-dimensional replication of the structures in the resist film remains. By further anisotropic etching, the nanostructures can then be transferred into a substrate.

The process has the following disadvantages: low reproducibility, like all roll-to-roll processes, as well as the many technologically complex steps, in particular by the etching.

Another method is known which finds application in the manufacture of full color organic light emitting diodes OLEDs (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) for displays.

The deposition of organic material layers on a substrate by the application of inkjet printing.

In applying this method to organic electronic components formed by such processes, some problems arise.

Among others, insufficient diffusion of the guest material into the organic active layer.

Disadvantages of this method also include a very uneven distribution of the guest material concentration, insufficient reproducibility and poor efficiency of the electronic components produced in this way.

Another known method is a spray coating method for the production of organic photovoltaic elements.

This is a perspective process that currently has some serious drawbacks.

Disadvantages include substantial difficulties of doping organic semiconductors.

All known methods for producing electronic and / or energy-generating, and / or energy-converting elements and components also include the production of thin insulating layers. Such thin dielectric layers must have a very high homogeneity.

All known methods for producing electronic and / or energy-generating and / or energy-converting elements and components subsequently required some special and complex sintering methods and polymerization methods.

Liquid materials should form a solid and hard or firm and flexible substrate.

Sintering is the densification of green bodies under certain physical applications, such as heat treatment by the diffusion transport of atoms.

The compaction may only lead to a uniform and reproducible shrinkage.

Decisive properties for the shaping and / or the emergence of basic elements and / or components of electronic and / or energy-generating and / or energy-converting elements and components are the properties of the material mixtures or "feedstocks" to be used, such as, for example, the mixtures of nanotubes, organic semiconductors and doping materials as well as the flow behavior and the packing behavior of the mixtures to be used.

These properties are determined by bulk forces and surface forces (attraction and repulsion between, for example, powder particles).

The smaller the powder particles are, the more the mixing properties, and in particular powder properties, are characterized by the surface forces.

The production of stable suspensions of structural materials and binder mixtures also plays an important role in the production of electronic and / or energy-generating, and / or energy-converting elements and components.

Stable suspensions are understood to mean well-dispersed powder slurries in which the particles do not accumulate.

High stability is achieved when the mutual approach of particles by Brownian motion (thermal kinetic energy) does not lead to the Van der Waals attraction.

Between particles of the same material are always Van der Walls attractions; their range is very low. They cause disordered adhesion of the particles and a relatively low packing density.

The shaping of electronic and / or energy-generating and / or energy-converting elements and components of powders is hampered by the attractive forces and the shape of the particles (corners, edges, roughness). This is especially evident in fine and dry powders.

The effect of the Van der Walls attraction can be diminished or compensated by charge of the particles (electrostatic repulsion) and / or by coating the particles with polymers that hinder mutual contact of the Patrtikeloberflächen (steric hindrance).

The interactions between the particles are essentially determined by the different ranges of attraction, repulsion and hindrance forces.

Solid phase sintering occurs at temperatures below the melting point of the lowest melting component.

In liquid phase sintering, at least one component must form a low melting percentage.

Another possibility is sintering by viscous flow, in which case there is a high melting percentage.

Reaction sintering is characterized by the emergence of a new phase (from the transitional melt that first formed).

Thermodynamics and kinetics of sintering.

The driving force for sintering, neck growth, pore shape change, shrinkage and grain growth is the reduction in surface and interfacial energy, as part of free Gibbs energy G.

δG = gs δAs + gbδ Ab (1),

wherein gs, gb specific surface energy and grain boundary energy and As and Ab are the entire surface or grain boundary surface of the sintered body.

Atomic transport takes place with differences in the chemical potential of atoms or vacancies.

The different chemical potential Δμ in the sintered body is associated with locally different curvatures of the grains. Mathematically, this can be formulated as

Δμ = ΔK * gs Ω (2),

where ΔK is the difference in surface curvature between two sites in the sintered body and Ω is the volume of the atomic species. The curvature scales with 1 / grain size. The ratio of chemical potential to volume Ω is the sintering potential σΣ (unit MPa):

ΔΩ μ = σΣ (3).

The object of the present invention is to provide a method and a device of the type mentioned which avoids the disadvantages of the above-described methods / devices.

To solve this problem, the features specified in claim 1 and 16 are provided in such a method / devices.

Compaction and formation of semiconductor structures - inorganic, as well as organic, and / or metal powder semiconductor structures and / or semiconductor ceramic structures and / or semiconductor polymer structures, and / or ceramic powder semiconductor structures, and / or polymer nanocomposite structures, and / or semiconductor Metal polymer structures and / or semiconductor nanocomposite structures and / or semiconductor nanocomposite metallo-polymer structures and / or semiconductor nanocomposite polymer structures and / or their arbitrary compositions are made by Van der Walls forces or at the nano-base by Casimir forces.

It is possible, based on quantum mechanical calculations, to show that the utilization of Casimir forces enhances the bond strengths of ceramic and metallic particles as well as nanocomposites as well as inorganic and organic semiconductors as well as polymers as well as metallopolymers both in settling, compaction and compaction also increased controllable at sintering.

The exploitation of Casimir forces - attractions as well as repulsion forces - is accomplished by the activation and / or mobilization and / or control of the quantum mechanical and / or quantum chemical effects and forces generated by the application of special sequences to pulsed controllable energy inputs ,

The sintering and / or the compaction and / or bonding of materials and / or material components and / or production of insulating layers and / or the production of electroconductive layers and / or contacts and / or introduction of electron-active and photon-active as well as phonon-active as well as electro-conductive Even electro-insulating materials in the support materials and / or their arbitrary combinations can be significantly influenced and controlled by the application of special consequences of pulsed controllable Ehergieeinflüssen.

The application of special consequences to pulsed controllable energy influences is significantly accelerated by sintering processes as well as compaction processes and makes the doping of organic semiconductors much easier.

The application of special consequences of pulsed controllable energy influences significantly facilitates and accelerates the bonding of materials and / or material components and / or the incorporation of electron-active and photon-active as well as electro-conductive and electro-insulating materials in the support materials and makes the process controllable.

Moreover, the method according to the invention has further advantages in comparison with the known methods.

A further advantage is that the method according to the invention makes it possible to produce the electronic and / or energy-generating, and / or energy-converting elements and components from a plurality of different materials previously not to be combined with dramatically different properties and combinations thereof without additional technological steps ,

A further advantage lies in the fact that the specially nano- and microscopically defined geometrical structures can be embossed into the surface as well as in inner layers by the novel process according to the invention.

Such structures are necessary in the manufacture of screens, integrated circuits, electronic components as well as in the manufacture of photovoltaic elements.

A further advantage resides in the fact that different selectable components and / or parts of the electronic and / or energy-generating and / or energy-converting elements and components can have different hardness and / or strength properties and / or elasticity properties due to the novel method according to the invention.

For example, an outer surface of an electronic and / or energy-generating and / or energy-converting element and / or component may have a higher hardness and higher scratch resistance relative to the inner part.

A further advantage is that flexible flexible electronic and / or energy-generating and / or energy-converting elements and / or components with very high efficiencies produced by the novel process according to the invention are highly reproducible.

A further advantage is that the novel process according to the invention makes it possible to produce flexible flexible electronic and / or energy-generating and / or energy-converted elements and / or components in the form of endless, flexible, thin-film films.

Further advantages and details of the invention will become apparent from the following description in which the invention with reference to the embodiment shown in the drawing is described and explained in more detail.

The single FIGURE shows a schematic side view as an embodiment, an apparatus for producing electronic and / or energy-generating and / or energy-converting elements and components by the use of a printing press.

A carrier material, for example in the form of a thin film, is supplied by a supply roll 4 by printing units 2 and 3 and by treatment units 5 to 11 to the take-up roll for the finished electronic and / or energy-generating and / or energy-converting elements or components containing products, for example a light emitting screen based on a thin film photovoltaic film or thin film organic light emitting diode (OLED).

The treatment units include pulsed controllable energy introduction units, such as one or more ultrasound beam elements and / or one or more megasonic beam elements and / or one or more gigasound beam elements and / or one or more microwave beam elements and / or one or more laser beams Elements and / or one or more magnetic field generating elements and / or one or more electrostatic field generating elements and / or one or more pressure generating elements and / or any combinations thereof.

The pressure generating elements which serve to generate pulsed pressures could be designed in various ways, for example as a pneumatic, hydraulic, gas-dynamic pulsed pressure generator, ultrasonic or megasonic pulsed pressure generator, pulsed laser pressure generator, pulsed magnetostrictive pressure generator, pulsed plasma pressure generator, pulsed thermostrictive pressure generator, pulsed chemical pressure generator, microscopic explosion pressure generator, electric discharge pressure generator.

The inventive method was further tested using the example of a thin-film photovoltaic element with different material combinations, including, for example:

- copper indium gallium diselenide - Cu (In, Ga) Se ₂ ;

- Cu (In, Ga) ₃ Se ₅ ;

Cu (In, Ga) ₅ Se ₈ ;

- CU (In, Ga) (Se, S) ₂ .

For example, a thin-layered stainless steel foil and a modified polyimide film were tested as carrier materials. The thickness of the films was, for example, 1 μm and 1.5 μm.

Thin-film photovoltaic elements were produced according to the invention by the use of an offset printing machine.

The experiments have shown that produced according to the invention produced thin-film photovoltaic elements with stainless steel foil as the carrier material an efficiency of 16.8% and with modified polyimide as the carrier material an efficiency of 8.6% to 11.2%.

Photovoltaic elements produced according to the invention have shown good flexibility.

A quality test of the photovoltaic elements produced according to the invention has given the necessary homogeneity and excellent reproducibility.

Claims

Method for producing an electronic and / or energy-generating and / or energy-converting element, characterized by the activation and / or mobilization and / or control of quantum mechanical and / or quantum chemical effects and forces and / or their arbitrary combinations due to application of certain energy influences.
A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the electronic and / or energy-generating and / or energy-converting elements, an electronic switch element or an opto-electronic element, such as an organic light-emitting diode element (OLEDE) and / or an OLED screen element, or a photovoltaic element or an electronic sensor element or an electronic radiation element, for example a screen element, is.
A method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the electronic and / or energy-generating and / or energy-converting element has a solid shape or a flexible, flexible shape or any combination of solid and / or flexible, flexible shapes.
Method according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the electronic and / or energy-generating and / or energy-converting element by the application of a printing process or by the application of the high-pressure process (for example flexographic printing) or by the application of gravure printing (for example, rotary printing) or by the use of the planographic printing process (for example offset printing, sheetfed offset printing, web offset printing) or by the application of the throughprinting process (for example screen printing) or by the use of the ink jet printing process or by the application of the paste printing process or by the application of the laser assisting printing process or by the application of the Roll-to-roll method or by the application of the electrophotography method or by the application of the coating method or by the application of the laser coating method or by the application of the Nas coating method or by the application of the plasma coating method or by the application of the electrostatic coating method or by the application of the evaporation coating method or by the application of the chemical vapor deposition coating method or by the application of the ion support coating method or by the application of the ion beam coating method or by the use of the spray coating method or by the application of the spin coating method or by the use of the high speed wire flame spray coating method or by the application of the microwave coating method or by the application of the sol gel coating method or by the application of the electrophoresis coating method or by the use of any combinations the above method is or will be generated.
Method according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the electronic and / or energy-generating and / or energy-converting element is or are generated by the application of the self-organized growth of nanoparticles and / or molecules and / or atoms and / or their arbitrary combinations ,
Method according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the electronic and / or energy-generating and / or energy-converting element is or are single-layered or multi-layered.
Method according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the electronic and / or energy-generating and / or energy-converting element nanomaterials or nanocomposites or nanotubes or fullerenes or any compositions of materials and / or nanomaterials and / or nanocomposites and / or nanotubes and / or Fullerenes include or include.
Method according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the electronic and / or energy-generating and / or energy-converting element is a thin-layer flexible film or a monolithic element or a flexible flexible element or a nanoelemment or any combination of thin-layered films and / or monolithic elements and / or flexible flexible elements and / or nano-elements is or are.
Method according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the activation and / or mobilization and / or control of the quantum mechanical and / or quantum chemical effects and forces is carried out by the application of special consequences of pulsed controllable energy influences.
Method according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sintering and / or compaction and / or bonding of materials and / or material components and / or the introduction of electron-active and photon-active as well as electro-conductive and electro-insulating materials in the support materials and / or any of their combinations is performed by the application of special sequences of pulsed controllable energy influences.
The method of claim 9 to 10, characterized in that the specific consequences of the pulsed controllable energy influences electromagnetic energy or ultrasonic energy or megasonic or gigasonic or microwave energy or electrostatic energy or laser energy of photon emitting and / or phononenstrahlendem laser and / or their combination or pulsed magnetic field energy or Energy of rotating magnetic fields or pulsed magnetic field energy and the energy of rotating magnetic fields or any compositions of the ultrasonic energy and / or megasonic energy and / or Gigahallenenrgie and / or microwave energy and / or electrostatic energy and / or laser energy of photon emitting and / or phononenstrahlendem laser and / or their combination, and or pulsed magnetic field energy, and / or rotating magnetic fields, or any combination of electromagnetic and mechanical energy.
Method according to at least one of claims 9 to 11, characterized in that the mechanical energy is applied among others in the form of pressure and / or sound energy, wherein the sound energy is ultrasonic energy or megasonic energy or giga-sound energy or any combination of ultrasonic energy and / or megasonic energy and / or Gigasoundergie includes.
Method according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the special consequences of the pulsed controllable energy influences are applied by means of special sequences of electromagnetic energy and mechanical energy and / or their combination in the form of one or more energy influence pulses of short duration and high intensity.
A method according to claim 13, characterized in that 1 to 10,000 energy-influencing pulses, more preferably 1 to 5,000, most preferably 1 to 500 energy-influencing pulses, with a pulse duration between 1 femtosec and 30 minutes, better from 1 microseconds to 10 minutes, most preferably between 1 ns and 5 minutes, and a pulse interval between 1 μs to 30 minutes, better from 1 ns to 10 minutes, preferably between 100 ns and 5 minutes.
Method according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that for the production of such elements semiconductor structures, inorganic and organic and / or metal powder semiconductor structures and / or semiconductor ceramic structures and / or semiconductor polymer structures and / or ceramic powder semiconductor structures and / or Polymer nanocomposite structures and / or semiconductor metal polymer structures and / or semiconductor nanocomposite structures and / or semiconductor nanocomposite metallopolymers and / or semiconductor nanocomposite polymer structures and / or their arbitrary compositions may be used.
Device for producing an electronic and / or energy-generating and / or energy-converting element according to the method of claim 1 or one of the following, characterized in that the device is a printing press or a planographic printing machine (for example, sheetfed offset and / or web offset) or a high-pressure system (for example Flexographic printing) or a gravure printing system or a printing system (for example screen printing) or an inkjet printing system or a paste printing system or a laser printing system or any combination of inkjet printing system and / or laser printing system, and / or paste printing system and / or pressurized system and / or gravure printing system and / or high-pressure system and / or flat pressure plant has.
Device according to claim 16, characterized in that the printing press comprises one or more ultrasound beam elements or one or more megasonic beam elements or one or more gigasound beam elements or one or more microwave beam elements or one or more ultrasound beam elements or one or more laser beam elements. Elements or one or more magnetic field generating elements or one or more pressure generating elements or one or more electrostatic field generating elements or one or more arbitrary combinations of one or more ultrasonic beam elements and / or one or more megasonic radiation elements and / or one or more gigasound beam Elements and / or one or more microwave beam elements and / or one or more laser beam elements and / or one or more magnetic field generating elements and / or one or more electrostatic fields generating elements and / or a or more pressure-generating elements.
Apparatus according to claim 16 or 17, characterized in that the device comprises a printer or an ink jet printer or a laser print or a paste printer or an electrophotographic printer or any combination of ink jet printer and / or laser printer and / or paste printer.
Device according to at least one of claims 16 to 18, characterized in that the printer comprises one or more ultrasound beam elements or one or more megasonic beam elements or one or more gigasound beam elements or one or more microwave beam elements or one or more laser beam elements or one or more magnetic field-generating elements or one or more pressure-generating elements or one or more electrostatic field-generating elements or one or more arbitrary combinations of one or more ultrasound beam elements and / or one or more megasonic radiation elements and / or one or more gigasound beam Elements and / or one or more microwave beam elements and / or one or more laser beam elements and / or one or more magnetic field generating elements and / or one or more electrostatic fields generating elements and / or one or more druckerzeug having elements.
Device according to at least one of claims 16 to 19, characterized in that the device is a coating unit or a sol-gel coating unit or a microwave coating unit or a plasma coating unit or a spray coater or a spin coater or a roll-to-roll coater or a An ion beam coating machine or a high speed wire flame spray coating machine or an ion support coating machine or a chemical vapor deposition coater or a laser coater or a wet coater or an electrostatic coater or an evaporative coater or an electrophoresis coater or any combination of evaporative coater and / or electrostatic coating system and / or wet coating system and / or laser coating system and / or chemical vapor deposition B coating installation and / or ion-supporting coating installation and / or high-speed wire flame spraying coating installation and / or ion beam coating installation and / or plasma coating installation and / or microwave coating installation and / or sol-gel coating installation and / or spin coating installation and / or spray coating installation and / or Roll-to-roll coating system and / or electrophoresis coating plant has.
Apparatus according to claim 20, characterized in that the coating system comprises one or more ultrasound beam elements or one or more megasonic beam elements or one or more gigasound beam elements or one or more microwave beam elements or one or more laser beam elements or one or more magnetic fields generating elements or one or more pressure-generating elements or one or more electrostatic field generating elements or one or more arbitrary combinations of one or more ultrasonic beam elements and / or one or more megasonic radiation elements and / or one or more gigasound beam elements and / or one or more microwave beam elements and / or one or more laser beam elements and / or one or more magnetic field generating elements and / or one or more electrostatic field generating elements and / or one or more pressure generating elements b einhaltet.
Device according to at least one of claims 16 to 21, characterized in that the device includes a lamination system.
Apparatus according to claim 22, characterized in that the laminating installation comprises one or more ultrasound beam elements or one or more megasonic beam elements or one or more gigasound beam elements or one or more microwave beam elements or one or more pressure-generating elements or one or more laser beam elements. Elements or one or more magnetic field generating elements or one or more electrostatic fields generating elements or one or more arbitrary combinations of one or more ultrasonic beam elements and / or one or more megasonic radiation elements and / or one or more gigasound beam elements and / or one or more microwave beam elements and / or one or more laser beam elements and / or one or more magnetic field generating elements and / or one or more electrostatic field generating elements and / or one or more pressure generating elements having.
Device according to at least one of claims 16 to 23, characterized in that the device includes a roll-to-roll system.
Apparatus according to claim 24, characterized in that the roll-to-roll system comprises one or more ultrasound beam elements or one or more megasonic beam elements or one or more gigasound beam elements or one or more microwave beam elements or one or more pressure-generating elements or one or more laser beam elements or one or more magnetic field generating elements or one or more electrostatic field generating elements or one or more arbitrary combinations of one or more ultrasonic beam elements and / or one or more megasonic radiation elements and / or one or more gigasound beam Elements and / or one or more microwave beam elements and / or one or more laser beam elements and / or one or more magnetic field generating elements and / or one or more electrostatic field generating elements and / or one or more pressure generating elements a ufweist.