NSF Award
9761210
*** 9761210 Ellison This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will adapt a proprietary low pressure microwave plasma technology for use in a plasma-activated deposition system, demonstrating high-rate deposition of optical and electronic coatings. Sputtering is almost exclusively used to deposit optical coatings for high value-added products, e.g. nonglare coatings and low emissivity coatings for windows. Typical deposition rates are 1-2 nanommeters per second (nm/s), and costs are of $2-10 per m2/100 nm. By contrast evaporation is used for extremely high-speed, low-cost deposition of coatings onto commodity film substrates for applications, such as food packaging, at one thousandth the cost of sputtering. Typical rates and costs are 300 nm/s and $0.10 per m2/100 nm. However, evaporative coatings do not have the required mechanical properties or uniformity necessary for most optical or electrical applications. Phase I will show that the evaporation process, if enhanced with a microwave plasma, will produce coatings with the mechanical properties required for optical and electronic applications, using techniques already demonstrated and commercialized in large scale manufacturing. Such coatings could, thereby, come into widespread use. Commerical applications are expected to include selective solar radiation control coatings and low cost thin film photovoltaics. ***
