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Advanced thin films – incorporating innovative materials such as atomically thin graphene – are enabling breakthroughs in displays, photovoltaics, imaging, sensing and a host of other optoelectronic devices.
This video focuses on graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides, or TMDs, but Denton’s deposition platforms support development and scalable implementation of not only graphene but also:
- perovskite nanowire arrays & heterostructures,
- metal-selenide heterostructures,
- amorphous silicon,
- and tandem structures.
Graphene and TMDs, such as molybdenum disulfide, offer exceptional electrical, optical, and mechanical properties. Graphene’s unmatched conductivity and flexibility, combined with the direct bandgap exhibited by monolayer TMDs that efficiently turn light into electricity, and vice versa, make them indispensable for applications like photodetectors, transparent electrodes, flexible displays, and high-mobility transistors.
The traditional approach to producing high-quality, large-area graphene is through low-pressure chemical vapor deposition, or LPCVD, on copper foils. While this yields excellent crystallinity, it requires high temperatures and involves complex transfer steps not suited for flexible substrates.
Plasma-enhanced CVD, or PE-CVD, enables lower-temperature growth directly on target substrates, offering a more integration-friendly route – though this demands careful optimization to control defect density and maintain film quality.
For TMDs, techniques such as atomic layer deposition, or ALD, metal-organic CVD, or MO-CVD, and thermal CVD provide excellent control over layer thickness and stoichiometry. However, these methods often fall short in deposition rate, area scalability, or compatibility with flexible and thermally sensitive substrates, which are key requirements for practical device integration.
This is where Denton Vacuum’s Voyager and Phoenix PIB-CVD platforms deliver a decisive edge. These systems uniquely combine plasma-ion beam technology with CVD, enabling:
- Independent control of ion energy and flux, allowing precise tuning of film properties such as crystallinity, defect densities, and stress.
- Low-temperature processing, crucial for polymer and other temperature-sensitive substrates used in flexible electronics.
- Large-area uniformity, supporting industrial-scale manufacturing with consistent film performance.
- Monolayer precision with low defect density, critical for the performance of 2D materials in optical and electronic devices.
Unlike conventional PE-CVD or ALD systems that may sacrifice throughput for precision, or precision for throughput, Denton’s PIB-CVD tools strike a balance by offering both scalability and wide-range process tunability in a single platform. This makes Denton’s PIB-CVD exceptionally well-suited for the deposition of 2D materials and heterostructures in flexible optoelectronics.
Interested in partnering with a technology leader like Denton Vacuum? Contact us today.