Self-assembly patterning for fabricating thin-film devices
AssigneeFlisom AG
InventorsPatrick Reinhard, Adrian Chirila
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method (200) for fabricating patterns on the surface of a layer of a device (100), the method comprising: providing at least one layer (130, 230); adding at least one alkali metal (235) comprising Cs and/or Rb; controlling the temperature (2300) of the at least one layer, thereby forming a plurality of self-assembled, regularly spaced, parallel lines of alkali compound embossings (1300, 1305) at the surface of the layer. The method further comprises forming cavities (236, 1300) by dissolving the alkali compound embossings. The method (200) is advantageous for nanopatterning of devices (100) without using templates and for the production of high efficiency optoelectronic thin-film devices (100).
Claims20
A method for fabricating patterns on a surface of a device, comprising:
- exposing the surface of the device to at least one alkali metal, wherein the at least one alkali metal comprises Cs or Rb, and the device comprises at least one layer;
- and
- controlling a temperature of the surface to form a plurality of embossings at the surface, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of embossings result from a self-assembly process that comprises:
- forming of a plurality of alkali crystal compounds including compounds of Cs or Rb and a material of the at least one layer of the device,
- wherein the alkali crystal compounds are embedded into the surface of the at least one layer of the device, and form at least a first line of the embossings that are regularly spaced, and that are adjacent and parallel to at least one second line of regularly spaced embossings within at least one region of the at least one layer.
A method for fabricating patterns on a surface of a device, comprising:
- exposing the surface of the device to at least one alkali metal, wherein the at least one alkali metal comprises Cs or Rb, and the device comprises at least one layer;
- and
- controlling a temperature of the surface to form a plurality of embossings at the surface, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of embossings result from a self-assembly process that comprises:
- forming of a plurality of alkali crystal compounds including compounds of Cs or Rb and a material of the at least one layer of the device,
- wherein the alkali crystal compounds are embedded into the surface of the at least one layer of the device, and form at least a first line of the embossings that are regularly spaced, and that are adjacent and parallel to at least one second line of regularly spaced embossings within at least one region of the at least one layer;
- and
- forming at least one cavity by dissolving at least a portion of the alkali crystal compound, wherein the method of forming the at least one cavity comprises:
- forming at least one buffer layer on the surface of the at least one layer;
- exposing the surface of the at least one layer to one or more oxidation state +1/+2 elements;
- aqueous wetting of the surface of the at least one layer with a solution comprising water;
- and
- aqueous wetting of the surface of the at least one layer with a diluted aqueous ammonia solution with a diluted ammonia molarity in a range from 0 to 20 M.
A method for fabricating patterns on a surface of a device, comprising:
- exposing the surface of the device to at least one alkali metal, wherein the at least one alkali metal comprises Cs or Rb, and the device comprises at least one layer;
- forming at least one back-contact layer;
- providing at least one substrative layer comprising an absorber layer;
- and
- controlling a temperature of the surface to form a plurality of embossings at the surface, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of embossings result from a self-assembly process that comprises:
- forming of a plurality of alkali crystal compounds including compounds of Cs or Rb and a material of the at least one layer of the device,
- wherein the alkali crystal compounds are embedded into the surface of the at least one layer of the device, and form at least a first line of the embossings that are regularly spaced, and that are adjacent and parallel to at least one second line of regularly spaced embossings within at least one region of the at least one layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.