This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project is designed to discover improved transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) utilizing the combinatorial approach, and to develop an instrument capable of rapidly characterizing the TCO libraries. TCO thin films simultaneously display the properties of high optical transparency (>90%) and near metallic conductivity that are important to many opto-electronic applications from photovoltaics to flat panel displays. Our three-phase plan is to use the combinatorial approach to identify the most promising combination of metal oxides, to determine the optimal oxygen doping of this compound, and then to develop a commercial-scale deposition process that can be used to manufacture millions of square feet of TCOs per month.
The research described in this proposal will have a significant impact on the productivity and efficiency of TCO manufacturers by providing materials of superior performance and an instrument capable of screening large libraries of opto-electronic materials and devices that will be commercialized for the testing of wafers, films, and devices on the production-scale.
