Thermal evaporation is another physical vapor deposition (PVD) process used in VON ARDENNE coating equipment. It is based on the thermal evaporation of organic and inorganic materials from a closed crucible.
In these so-called linear evaporators, the vapor is fed through a heated tube arranged transversely to the substrate passing through. By means of a nozzle arrangement along the tube, the vapor is distributed across the width of the substrate and condenses in a homogeneous layer on the substrate.
This concept allows the construction of scalable sources with limited space requirements for different substrate materials and dimensions. By selectively superimposing steam from several neighboring evaporation tubes, it can also be used to create mixed layers.
This is a key process for the production of the next generation of highly efficient solar cells based on organic-inorganic hybrid materials: perovskites. We have developed a concept for this purpose to enable the simultaneous evaporation of up to 4 different materials.
Further applications of this linear evaporation technology are anti-reflective coatings with additional water- and grease-repellent surfaces, for example in displays.
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