Anneal techniques for chalcogenide semiconductors

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10672939-B2
Application number	US-201816126658-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 10, 2018
Priority date	Sep 27, 2014
Publication date	Jun 2, 2020
Grant date	Jun 2, 2020

Abstract

Techniques for precisely controlling the composition of volatile components (such as sulfur (S), selenium (Se), and tin (Sn)) of chalcogenide semiconductors in real-time—during production of the material are provided. In one aspect, a method for forming a chalcogenide semiconductor material includes providing a S source(s) and a Se source(s); heating the S source(s) to form a S-containing vapor; heating the Se source(s) to form a Se-containing vapor; passing a carrier gas first through the S-containing vapor and then through the Se-containing vapor, wherein the S-containing vapor and the Se-containing vapor are transported via the carrier gas to a sample; and contacting the S-containing vapor and the Se-containing vapor with the sample under conditions sufficient to form the chalcogenide semiconductor material. A multi-chamber processing apparatus is also provided.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A multi-chamber processing apparatus, comprising:
a sequence of chambers arranged linearly and connected in series with an outlet of one of the chambers being connected to an inlet of an adjacent one of the chambers in the sequence and wherein, for at least a given one of the chambers, the inlet and outlet are located at opposite ends of the given chamber;
at least one sulfur source in a first chamber in the sequence;
at least one selenium source in a second chamber in the sequence, wherein the at least one selenium source is a molten liquid within the second chamber over which a carrier gas can pass;
at least one tin source in a third chamber in the sequence;
a source of the carrier gas connected to the first chamber in the sequence;
further comprising a sample in a last chamber in the sequence;
wherein the sample comprises least one component selected from the group consisting of: copper, zinc, tin, sulfur, selenium, and combinations comprising at least one of the foregoing metals;
wherein the at least one selenium source comprises elemental selenium; and
wherein the at least one tin source comprises tin sulfoselenide.

2. The multi-chamber processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the chambers is fitted with a gas tight removable lid.

3. The multi-chamber processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the sample comprises at least one component selected from the group consisting of: copper, indium, gallium, sulfur, selenium, and combinations comprising at least one of the foregoing metals.

4. The multi-chamber processing apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
resistive heating elements within each of the chambers.

5. The multi-chamber processing apparatus of claim 4 , further comprising:
controllers connected to each of the heating elements.

6. The multi-chamber processing apparatus of claim 5 , wherein each of the controllers comprises an adjustable power supply.

7. The multi-chamber processing apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the controllers are located outside of the chambers.

8. The multi-chamber processing apparatus of claim 7 , wherein each of the resistive heating elements is connected to a separate one of the controllers.

9. The multi-chamber processing apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the controllers are located outside of the chambers.

10. The multi-chamber processing apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the resistive heating elements are each formed from a strip of electrically conductive material.

11. The multi-chamber processing apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the strip of electrically conductive material is arranged as a coil.

12. The multi-chamber processing apparatus of claim 4 , further comprising:
a thermocouple within each of the chambers for measuring temperature.

13. The multi-chamber processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sulfur source comprises elemental sulfur.

14. The multi-chamber processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the chambers is formed from a material selected from the group consisting of: metal, glass and plastic.

15. The multi-chamber processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least two of the chambers have a same shape as one another.

16. The multi-chamber processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the chambers has a different shape from another one of the chambers.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Mahajan Sunit S
• Todorov Teodor K

Classifications

• H01L31/18 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/0326

  Electricity · mapped topic

• C23C16/455

  characterised by the method used for introducing gases into reaction chamber or for modifying gas flows in reaction chamber · CPC title

• Y02E10/541

  CuInSe2 material PV cells · CPC title

• H01L31/0324

  Electricity · mapped topic