Electrically insulating Al2O3 and SiO2 films for sensor and photovoltaic applications deposited by reactive pulse magnetron sputtering, hollow cathode arc activated deposition and magnetron-PECVD

Electrically insulating films find wide applications in electronics, sensor and medical technology as well as in photovoltaics. This paper describes the deposition of Al2O3 and SiO2 films using reactive pulse magnetron sputtering, hollow cathode arc activated deposition and Magnetron-PECVD. The deposition rate of these processes ranges between 1 and 4 nm/s in stationary mode and between 80 and 1000 nm m/min in dynamic mode. Breakdown field strength values between 1 and 9 MV/cm were achieved for the as-deposited Al2O3 and SiO2 films. The resistivity of the sputtered films is between 10+15 and 10+17 ? cm. In the case of SiO2 films, considerably higher resistivity and breakdown field strength were obtained for process conditions with high plasma density and hence increased energetic substrate bombardment. Example applications of the SiO2 and Al2O3 films are metal membrane based pressure sensors and CIS/CIGS photovoltaics on metal strips.