Rotatable Thin Film Solar Target Materials

It is difficult to maintain homogenous uniformity of Copper Indium Gallium (CIG) coatings while using high temperature cast and powder metallurgy processes and multi-source sputtering approaches that reduce target induced non-uniformities are unsuitable for large scale production. Additionally, eroded targets cannot be repaired using conventional methods, so these spent targets must be scraped or recycled. Thus, new technology for fabricating and refurbishing ternary CIG targets is needed by the solar cell manufacturers to simplify the processes and reduce manufacturing costs.

Inovati’s Kinetic Metallization™ (KM) technology is the solution. KM is a solid-state spray process that has demonstrated production of thick, high-density targets of various materials (including CIG and Indium Aluminide) without constituent segregation. The KM process is low temperature, does not require masking, and is less expensive than thermal spray processes. Also, KM coatings are deposited in an inert environment, so they do not suffer from oxygen contamination.