Vacuum deposition sources having heated effusion orifices

摘要

The present invention provides deposition sources that can efficiently and controllably provide vaporized material for deposition of thin film materials. Deposition sources described herein can be used to deposit any desired material and are particularly useful for depositing high melting point materials at high evaporation rates. An exemplary application for deposition sources of the present invention is deposition of copper, indium, and gallium in the manufacture of copper indium gallium diselenide based photovoltaic devices.

主权项

1. A vacuum deposition source comprising:
a base flange configured to mount the vacuum deposition source to a vacuum chamber; a crucible operatively supported relative to the base flange and configured to hold vacuum deposition material, the crucible comprising a cylindrical body portion, a conical portion, and an effusion orifice; a heater operatively supported relative to the base flange and at least partially surrounding the crucible, the heater comprising a cylindrical body portion configured and positioned to provide thermal radiation to at least a portion of the cylindrical body portion of the crucible, the heater comprising a layered structure comprising a pyrolytic graphite electrically resistive layer positioned between pyrolytic boron nitride electrically insulative layers; and a cooling enclosure operatively attached to the base flange at a first end of the cooling enclosure and extending along and at least partially surrounding the heater and the crucible, the cooling enclosure having an internal surface, wherein the internal surface of the cooling enclosure is spaced from the heater by plural support elements each providing plural openings circumferentially spaced from one another along each of the support elements that the openings and space between the heater and the internal surface of the cooling enclosure define an annular conductance channel.