An Overview of Process and Product Requirements for Next Generation Thin Film Electronics, Advanced Touch Panel Devices, and Ultra High Barriers

Roll-to-Roll (R2R) production of thin film based display components (e.g., active matrix TFT backplanes and touch screens) combine the advantages of the use > of inexpensive, lightweight, and flexible substrates with high throughput production. Significant cost reduction opportunities can also be found in terms of processing tool capital cost, utilized substrate area, and process gas flow when compared with batch processing systems. Applied Materials has developed a variety of different web handling and coating technologies/platforms to enable high volume R2R manufacture of thin film silicon solar cells, TFT active matrix backplanes, touch screen devices, and ultra-high barriers for organic electronics. The work presented in this chapter therefore describes the latest advances in R2R PVD processing and principal challenges inherent in moving from lab and pilot scale manufacturing to high volume manufacturing of flexible display devices using CVD for the deposition of active semiconductors layers, gate insulators, and high performance barrier/passivation layers. This chapter also includes brief description of the process and cost advantage of the use of rotatable PVD source technologies (primarily for use in flexible touch panel manufacture) and a summary of the current performance levels obtained for R2R processed amorphous silicon and IGZO TFT backplanes. Results will also be presented for barrier film for final device/frontplane encapsulation for display applications.