ConCVD and ProConCVD: Development of High-Throughput CVD Tools on the Way to Low-Cost Silicon Epitaxy

Abstract

High throughput silicon deposition tools are imperative to enable the still outstanding step for crystalline silicon thin-film concepts towards production. This paper reports the actual status of the effort at Fraunhofer ISE undertaken to realize two such tools: the ConCVD and the ProConCVD. The ConCVD has undergone a major revision and now features two consecutive deposition chambers for in-situ deposition of base and emitter. Its main purpose is process development in small scale up to ~50 wafers/h. The ProConCVD is a massively scaled version of the ConCVD, intended to prove the scalability of the approach to a near-production level of more than 1000 wafers/h. This tool will be set up, as was the ConCVD, in the SIMTEC laboratory of Fraunhofer ISE. The predicted performance of both tools was simulated extensively by numerical CFD and analytical methods. All simulations done so far confirmed the predicted performance of both tools concerning deposition quality and reactor safety.