Large Area PECVD Technology

Abstract

The rapid growth of the Active Matrix Liquid Crystal Display market since the late 1990's has been driven by demand for ever larger displays that are widely affordable. Therefore, LCD manufacturers have steadily driven their industry toward lower and lower manufacturing cost per unit area of display. The current generation, Generation 10, which is just starting, is based on a glass substrate that's over 9m2 in size. This paper discusses the challenges that were faced and how they were overcome to produce high-quality PECVD layers at high rates on such large substrates. Also discussed is how the PECVD technology that was developed for AMLCD manufacturing, was adapted to manufacture Thin Film Silicon Solar panels 5.7m2 in size. By scaling up the panel size, the cost per watt of energy from a square meter of panel has been made commercially viable in today's photovoltaic energy market.