Nov 30 2010
The FlexTech Alliance, focused on developing the electronic display and the flexible, printed electronics industry supply chain, announced today that it has awarded a contract to Cambridge NanoTech to develop a high-speed Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) system.
When completed, the system will enable the manufacture of large-area and flexible substrates for use in organic electronics, solar cells, biomedical devices, and displays.
The high-speed ALD system is targeted to operate at the high volumes necessary for commercial roll-to-roll practices. ALD is an ideal coating technology because of its perfect, conformal, ultra-thin films that are scalable to large-area substrates. ALD simultaneously offers excellent thickness uniformity, film density, step coverage, interface quality, and low temperature processing, making ALD beneficial for both roll-to-roll flexible substrates and rigid substrates.
"We are honored to be selected by the FlexTech Alliance to industrialize ALD and bring it to the forefront of thin film technology," said Ray Ritter, COO of Cambridge NanoTech. "This exciting, new technology will advance the way flexible electronics, displays and other next-generation consumer devices are fabricated."
"The FlexTech Alliance supports the mission to help build a commercially viable industry around flexible and printed electronics," said Michael Ciesinski, CEO of FlexTech Alliance. "The high-speed ALD system that Cambridge NanoTech will develop with this award stands to play a key role in commercializing the flexible electronics market."
To accelerate the ALD process, the engineering team at Cambridge NanoTech is focusing on cycle time reduction by means of a unique high speed precursor delivery and extraction mechanism. The beta system will be installed at the Flexible Display Center at Arizona State University in 2012. In addition to designing and building the high-speed ALD system, Cambridge NanoTech is developing film processes that are applicable to electronics and display manufacturers.
Source: http://www.cambridgenanotech.com/