New semiconductor production method proposed

A new production method could see larger and more flexible solar panels created, according to Penn State University scientists.

The new process takes place under high pressure and does not require plasma to produce semiconductors, compared to conventional methods. This would also be accompanied by a huge drop in costs to produce them. Typically, chemical vapour deposition is used to produce thin silicon semiconductors, but this requires the use of large, expensive reactors that produce and store plasma.

Professor John Badding, Professor of Chemistry, Physics and Material Science at Penn State University, said: “We have developed a new, high-pressure, plasma-free approach to creating large-area, thin-film semiconductors. By putting the process under high pressure, our new technique could make it less expensive and easier to create the large, flexible semiconductors used in flat-panel monitors and solar cells.”

Chemical vapour deposition to produce semiconductor involves silane, a gas, undergoing a chemical reaction to deposit a thin layer of silicon and hydrogen on a surface. For a functioning semiconductor to be produced, this has to happen at a temperature low enough to allow the hydrogen atoms to be incorporated into the coating.

Professor Badding said: “With our new high-pressure chemistry technique, we can create low-temperature reactions in much smaller spaces and with a much smaller volume of gas. The reduced space necessary allows us, for the first time, to create semiconductors on multiple, stacked surfaces simultaneously, rather than on just a single surface.”

The research was published in Advanced Materials.