Reactive mid-frequency sputtering process of Al-doped zinc oxide films from rotatable
targets
V. Sittinger, F. C. Carreri, S. Jung, A. Kaiser, G. Bräuer
Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Film IST
E-mail:
The industrialization of CIGS solar modules in larger scale has raised the demand for
production processes of TCO films with high quality at low costs. Regarding stability and
price as a compromise the production of the TCO is done by sputtering of ceramic ZnO:Al
2
O
3
targets on large scale. Reactive sputtering of metallic Zn:Al targets offers an attractive
alternative for further price reduction and opens up the possibility to improved film quality
with respect to the ceramic targets. In the present work an industrial relevant rotatable
magnetron set-up in an in-line coater was built to show the possibility of up-scaling and
thoroughly controlling of such a process. ZnO:Al films with high optical and electrical
quality deposited under different process conditions will be discussed.
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