Thin Film

Materials
September 2008, No.12

Reducing Lead Times One Process at a Time

PV: The Trend Towards Tube Targets Lifestyle by Touch Screens

Editorial
Driving development is good for business
Dear Readers, Welcome to our autumn issue of Thin Film Materials; in this issue we look at enhancing manufacturing capabilities (yours and ours) and our concept of technology partnership. A central element of our technology partnership model is our fast-track product development process to make sure our customers can maximize the return on their investment in technology. As you know, product development is both complex and challenging, but one must remain mindful of the business issues the competitive environment, time to market, managing risk, and the precise monitoring of the development process. Only by keeping the big picture in mind can we optimize the chances of success for our products and our customers. A technology partnership also implies the long-term relationships that is a cornerstone for growth and success at Heraeus. This view permits us to provide further value by focusing our expertise and technology capabilities when and where our customers markets need it. This is why Heraeus has expended great efforts in adding manufacturing capabilities worldwide to take care of market demand and offer additional support to our partners. Our new sputter tool that recently went online in Hanau, Germany (see next page) is one aspect of our efforts to function as a natural extension of a clients R&D team. With the ongoing boom in alternative energy technologies, photovoltaics remains incredibly important to us. With the dramatic 70% growth in our sales (CAGR), we continue to ratchet up our investments in this sector. An update on the latest PV industry trends and our innovative rotatable targets (on page 6) shows that new technologies continue to drive the development and production of ever newer and more efficient solar cells. Despite the disheartening situation in housing in North America and in parts of Europe, current sales in our large area glass markets remain on track. As already mentioned, demand for our targets used for solar cells production continues to be a bright spot, developing at a torrid clip around the world. In summary, we expect overall growth in revenues for our Large Area Coating (LAC) business unit in 2008. Our efforts in the electronics and display markets are paying off in 2008. Heraeus recently scored notable wins with well-known display manufacturers in Taiwan, accompanied by growing success in components sales to large companies in the European market. We have strengthened our electronics / displays (ELC) teams too; Toralf Eggert is our new Worldwide Sales & Marketing Manager, and Sabine Schneider-Betz is the new Technology Manager (see interview on the back page). After an extended period of frenetic growth, our Magnetic Data Storage Business Unit (MDS) is currently running through a comparatively quiet phase. While growth continues to point upward, Heraeus is using this period of more stable demand to accelerate implementation of new production, testing and recycling processes. Overall, our technology markets continue to look strong for 2008 across all segments. I sincerely hope you are also reaping the commercial benefits of your development efforts in 2008. Perhaps even our latest news on technology and services are part of your successful year! Best regards,

News
New Sputter Tool for Customer Tests
A new in-line sputter system was unveiled at the Heraeus lab in Hanau, Germany on April 21, 2008. More than just a lab system, the 500mm cathode (with both Twin Mag and reactive sputtering capabilities) makes pilot production runs for PV, large area glass, and displays applications possible. It will be used mainly for testing of planar and rotatable targets, characterizing targets and layers, and bonding analyses. This tool is an important part of our co-development activities with our customers. They bring their own samples and run the tests, explains Albert Kastner, Lab & Testing Manager for the Hanau site. Its been an immediate success; were booked out for the next six months!

Albert Kastner and the new sputter tool.

New Record Size Gold Target

Weighing in at 120 kilos (ca. 264 lbs.) and with dimensions of 1.2 x 1 meter making it bigger than the average flat panel TV the newest gold target is the largest Heraeus has ever produced. With a gold purity of 99.99%, there were remarkable production challenges in making a bonded target of this size. While the actual application remains confidential, Carsten Rienecker, Sales Manager ELC Components, noted that the client intends to take advantage of the full range of precious metals services, including raw material management, recycling the used Au material, and financial planning for such a large amount of gold all to help keep costs under control.

TRADE SHOWS Jeff Statt TMD Division Manager

CONTENTS

LARGE AREA COATING 23rd EU PVSEC 2008 1 4 September, 2008 glasstec 21 25 October, 2008

Valencia, Spain Dsseldorf, Germany

Reducing Lead Times One Process at a Time

Lifestyle by Touch Screens

PV: The Trend Towards Tube Targets

Successful Technology Always Takes Two

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ELECTRONICS / DISPLAYS Semicon Taiwan 2008 9 11 September, 2008 Taipei, Taiwan Semicon Europe 2008 7 9 October, 2008 Stuttgart, Germany

MAGNETIC DATA STORAGE DISKCON 17 18 September, 2008 Santa Clara/ California, U.S.A MMM 2008 53rd Conference on Magnetism & Magnetic Materials 10 14 November, 2008 Austin/Texas, U.S.A

Reducing Lead Times One Process at a Time

By Dr. Michael Edwards, Magnetic Data Storage Business Unit Manager, Heraeus The Heraeus facility in Chandler (U.S.A.) developed and implemented a rigorous timesaving program to raise efficiencies and substantially reduce delivery lead times to customers. Ongoing efforts ensure that current benchmarks remain ahead of the industry average and meet market demands. Sir Isaac Newton saw time as part of the fundamental structure of the universe, a dimension in which events occur in sequence. 18th century philosopher and mathematician, Gottfried Liebniz, felt time neither flowed, was an event nor a thing, and thus was not measurable. At Heraeus, time is fundamental to our business performance, and constantly measured since current market and competitive conditions require an ongoing reduction in delivery lead times without compromising on-time delivery. Time is a Crime Previous efforts had brought some improvements, but these were not significant enough. Heraeus saw that we had to shorten delivery lead times by 65% compared to just a year ago. A big step was to transform the company mindset and be able to sustain such gains. With the assistance of a specialized consulting firm, Heraeus outlined a Lean Out initiative that emphasized a combination of process change, change management, and change sustainment. The main goals of this initiative were: Analyze all processes (from receiving initial orders to shipping final product) Identify improvement opportunities Reduce overall lead time to meet customer demands Initiate a culture of continuous improvement (based on lean manufacturing principles) By focusing on reducing delivery time, the Heraeus team rallied behind the Time is a Crime slogan to implement a four-phase program:

Diagnostic The Diagnostic phase analyzed the current situation and identified opportunities for improvement. Based on the concept of closed-lot

cycle time. Each department had to show how to improve lead times, not just within their area, but also throughout the entire process. A prioritized classification of timereducing or value-adding tasks (see Figure 2) for the main process areas (administrative, front-end production, backend production, and supply chain) showed a wide range of time-saving potential. Implementation The Implementation phase focused on completing action items and measuring the results, with multi-functional teams responsible for delivering results. Each task was aligned with the overall Heraeus Magnetic Data Storage Business Unit strategy. During this phase, the consulting firm provided overall execution and methodology coaching.

cycle time (the time from when an order is first received to when the order ships), this phase separated each process into distinct time zones. With clear lead time start and stop points, the team identified areas to accelerate processes and save time by looking at operation cycle times, non-value add times, time variations, process handoffs, and sub-optimal process flows. Visioning A Scan-Focus-Act workshop was used in the Visioning phase to identify key process gaps, develop solutions, set priorities, and mobilize project resources. Representatives from fifteen different departments within Heraeus participated, each with responsibilities that affected the closed-lot

Sustaining The Sustaining phase depends on sustaining leaders to continually monitor and optimize each task to maintain a process of ongoing improvements and minimize closedlot cycle times. In addition to regular management reviews, the training of Lean Performance Masters / Change Leaders (key personnel from virtually all areas of our business) will ensure that the changes made throughout the organization are sustained.

H
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Gems 8

3 9 13

Getting it right: Lean Out workshop participants used Lego blocks to simulate production of widgets and form their own factory. Several variations including work instructions, order of operations, safety stock levels and locations of operations were tested to find the most efficient way to produce a widget. Here participants diagnose a value stream map of the processes. The lessons learned at the workshop were key to a successful implementation of the Lean Out initiative.

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Benefit

26 12 Quick Hits 19 17

4 5

Final Results Heraeus achieved its goal of reducing lead times and now quotes delivery lead times equal to or better than competitive benchmarks. Further results included improvements Strategic 1 in the precious metal inventory Long Term levels, finished goods, supply 21 14 10 chain consistency, etc. Today, 27 15 efforts continue to reduce lead 2 7 times even further and exceed 24 the demands of an ever6 changing market.
Caution 23 20 25 22

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L
Diagnostic Visioning Implementation Sustaining

Benjamin Franklin once wrote, You may delay, but time will not. Heraeus defines time as the number of days it takes to ship our customers products. Since time will not delay, neither will we!

Effort

Figure 2: Setting priorities: Each task is classified by benefit delivered and effort needed. The tasks within Gems and Quick Hits were impleFigure 1: The four-phase Lean Out program mented first to create a quick return and impact. The Strategic Long Term items were then started for long term / large-scale results.

PV: The Trend Towards Tube Targets

By Frank Meier, PV Sales Manager, Heraeus Thin Film Materials Division
Targets: Ti, ZAO, Si, Mo, Al

The solar market continues to boom, with photovoltaic (PV) manufacturers rushing to boost output and product quality. The pace of technological improvements in the coating materials and sputter target types used to produce solar cell modules is also helping drive down costs and improve product performance. PV manufacturers are benefiting from availability of a growing number of rotatable (or tube) target types and an expanding range of PVD sputter materials. As previously observed in the window glass and flat panel display markets where the Heraeus expertise in tube targets originated there is an accelerating trend to shift from planar targets to cylindrical shaped rotatable targets that deliver tangible production and cost advantages. In-line deposition systems* use rotatable, or tube-shaped targets that run for longer periods, enabling extended production cycle times and reduced downtime for the production line. This is possible because their shape brings an increased mass of usable target material into the coating chamber during the production process. The higher initial costs for rotatable targets (compared to the flat, planar target format) are more than offset by their increased target life and throughput of substrate material, and reduced downtime for the complete system.

At Heraeus we are very aware of cost pressures on the manufacturer, adds Marcus Wendel, PV Business Unit Manager. But being aware of costs is more than simply offering a low-cost target; you also have to look at costs in relation to production requirements. Often, the cheapest alternative is not the preferred product. For example, instead of a 100% Al monolithic target, aluminum can be sprayed on an SST backing tube. But the density and purity of such a target would be problematic in high power applications. Successful sputter material combinations With substantial know-how and experience gained in other thin film markets such as architectural glass, flat panel displays, tool & decorative coatings, semiconductors, and hard disks Heraeus can draw for a wide range of technologies to find the best possible sputter materials for PV applications. Our teams of experts work with customers to

develop and optimize a growing range of materials and rotatable targets for PV production. Recent innovations include pure silicon (Si), ZAO, and CIG materials: Pure Si prototype targets for the production of crystalline solar cells have delivered promising results for newly developed applications and for use as a barrier layer. ZAO an effective transparent conductive oxide, it facilitates a transparent window layer as an electrode for CIS photovoltaic applications (with large layer thickness of approx. 1 m) and for backside contacts in amorphous Si cells; ZAO has largely replaced ITO due to noticeably lower costs. CIG delivers the highest solar cell efficiencies (up to 19% in the lab, and >12% for production-grade modules); also, CIG is sputtered with a follow-up selenization process; a single sputter process is in development. Sputter Target Materials for PV Applications Classified by solar cell type, the Heraeus range of target materials includes: Wafer-based: Si, SISPA, Al, Ag CIG: Mo, ZnO, ZAO, In, CuGa, CuIn, ZnAl CdTe: ITO, Sn, Mo, NiV Amorphous Si: ZnO, ZAO, Al, Mo, NiV, Ag, Making PV happen With the continued boom in demand, many PV manufacturers are also expanding beyond their home markets to maximize production efficiencies and increase revenues. Heraeus continues to work with customers to improve the quality of current sputter targets, reduce target production costs, and optimize the recycling processes for sputter

Rotatable sputter cathode

materials. The recent opening of our bond shop in India, and expansion of our production facility in China are only the most visible results of these efforts. Many of our customers have a development lab in one country and numerous production sites overseas, explains Marcus Wendel. We accompany them around the world to supply their production lines through our local facilities with planar and tube targets.

Come and see us at the European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference & Exhibition at the Feria Valencia in Valencia, Spain (Hall 3 Booth A30).

Lifestyle by Touch Screens

Touch Screens as Innovation Driver By David S. Lee, Sales Manager, HOT (Heraeus Oriental HiTec)
market penetration 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 million units

Originally developed for military applications, touch screen technology has become an intrinsic part of our lives. Often an innovation driver in the design of numerous electronic devices, todays touch screens benefit from increasingly sophisticated thin film materials. An overview of screen types and the coating materials is given here. Already a familiar part of retail environments, in point of sale systems, on ATMs, and PDAs (using a stylus to manipulate the menu and enter data), the booming popularity of smart phones such as Apples iPhone, new PDA designs, automobile navigation systems, portable game consoles, and many types of information and display devices continues to drive the demand for touch screens. This boom in market demand has also led to explosive growth in the production of the corresponding thin films dedicated to touch screen applications. For example, combining touch screen functionality has become a key growth driver for the mobile phone market; demand is expected to grow more than 50% annually until 2011, proving that touch screens are set to become a part of even more devices and a larger part of our lives. Application 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 CAGR Mobile Phone_TSP 169.2 321.9 471.9 593.3 957.3 54.2%

Penetration Rate 14% 24% 31% 36% 49%

Source: The proliferation of touch screens in mobile devices is set to grow quickly; this chart (blue bars) shows the number of touch screen phones sold or forecasted (in million units), and market penetration rate (yellow line) in %. Number values for each are listed on the left. Touch Screen Panel Industry Trend & Strategies report.

Together with leading manufacturers, Heraeus has developed a wide range of planar and tube types targets (including Si and ITO materials) that are advantageous when used for touch screen production. For example, for touch screen applications, Si tube targets deliver notably improved target life and greatly reduced deposition on the target surface (further reducing arcing and particles). While the basic concept of a touch screen consists of a sheet of glass covered with thin films, there are many different types of screens: Resistive touch screen The most commonly used touch screen today, a resistive touch screen panel is composed of several layers; two thin transparent electrically conductive layers separated by thin space. When an object (finger or pen) touches this panel, the layers connect; this causes a change in the electrical current that is registered, and then located by the controller. The transparent conductive (TCO) layers carry an electrical current (usually indium tin oxide, or ITO) and have a relatively high light transmittance, sheet resistance and proper adhesion on plastic and glass. Resistive touch screens are relatively impervious to dust or water, however, sharp objects can damage the thin film layers.

Diagram of a capacative touch screen

Protector

Diagram of a resistive touch screen

ITO

Substrate (Glass) Electrodes

FILM ITO Silver Dot Spacer

Y-Axis X-Axis

Source: atouch

SUBSTRATE (FILM, PLASTIC, GLASS)

Capacitive touch screen Capacitive touch screens have a conductive oxide (TCO) layer on rigid and transparent glass that conducts a continuous electrical current across the sensor panel a capacitance field of stored electrons. The touch screen senses an electrical charge when another capacitance field (i.e. someones finger) alters the sensors normal capacitance field (its reference state). This screen type can use relatively thick glass, providing clarity and a robust screen for environmental protection.

Getting in touch the inside story

Protection hard coat Adhesive PET Film (Upper electrode) ITO coating

and televisions. Now, many TFT LCD panel manufacturers are looking to combine touch screen functions with TFT LCD panels to enhance user-friendliness. The resulting functions magnifying images, multi-touch processing, etc. represent a tangible performance improvement over current touch screen types, and could become a profitable source for screen manufacturers in the near future. For example, late last year a fully integrated touch panel function in amorphous silicon TFT-LCD using liquid crystal capacitive line sensor arrays was announced. Using the same fabrication process as TFT-LCD, it can detect and locate touch with the capacitance change of liquid crystal in LCD, and features outstanding display qualities and superiority in size and thickness compared to a conventional resistive touch screen.

SiO2coating

Spacer

Glass or Plastic Film (Bottom electrode)

Most resistive touch screens use thin film coatings on both the upper plate (PET) and the lower plate (PET or glass), for bottom plate. Spacers separate the upper and lower plates. The thin film needs good adhesion and thermal stability on the PET plastic. To improve thin film properties, a thin SiO2 layer is inserted as a barrier and adhesion promoter between the PET / glass and the ITO coating, especially when using soda lime glass, where alkali ions (such as Na) can easily diffuse out from the glass and migrate into the ITO layer, deteriorating the thin film properties. A dense SiO2 layer blocks alkali ion movement. A reactive sputtering process with a Si target (and ambient oxygen) is used to make the SiO2 barrier layer. The reactive process is necessary to attain a stoichiometric Si-O ratio with enough oxygen gas flow to avoid transmittance loss from un-reacted Si that easily interferer with visible light.

Thin film requirements for touch panels Item Hardness Measurement Pencil Before annealing After annealing Surface resistance Before annealing After annealing Heat shrinkage Thermal durability (L1-L0)/L0 < 1.3 Low temperature (R1/R0) High temperature (R1/R0) Heat cycle (R1/R0) 80C, 120hr -40C, 120hr -40 -> 80C, 20 times 60C, 90%, 120hr Dip in liquid, 10min Dip in liquid, 10min Dip in liquid, 30min Dip in liquid, 30min < 1.2 < 1.3 < 1.3 < 1.3 < 1.3 < 1.3 < 1.3 < 1.3 4 point probe Light Intensity Specification 3H 86% 87% 45050 ohm/sq delta ohm/sq < 15%

Piezoelectric touch screen Sensitive oscillating crystals are located on 4 corners to sense when the screen is touched. The controller calculates the touch position but accuracy is inferior to other touch screen types because this position is calculated based on sensing the subtle pressures transferred to the four corners. Production of this type of panel can be complex due to the incorporation of piezoelectric sensors on the panel.

Wave-based technologies Beyond the thin film panels described above are Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) and infra-read (IR) touch screen types. SAW technology uses ultrasonic waves that pass over the touch screen panel; these are transferred and absorbed when the screen is touched. This change in the ultrasonic waves registers the touch position. More sensitive to outside elements and contaminants, SAW touch screens are one of most advanced touch screens using CRT glass with high transmittance and resolution. They are widely used in ATMs, kiosks, and public phones, etc. Infrared (IR) touch screens use an array of vertical and horizontal IR sensors to detect the interruption of a modulated light beam on the screen surface. IR lights are emitted from X and Y direction and sensors detect the lights from other side. By touching the panel, the lR light passing across the screen is interrupted and a sensor calculates the position on the screen. IR touch screens have the most durable surfaces and are used in military applications; however, the screens may malfunction when exposed to strong light. Whats next for touch screens? Increasingly thinner and simpler to produce, TFT LCD displays are already widely used as in notebook computers

Transmittance

Heat & humidity (R1/R0) Chemical durability Ether Acetone KOH HCl 1%

Versatile material: A widely used conductive material, ITO is ideal for demanding environments such as in automobile navigation systems, with its huge swings in ambient temperature and humidity. However, ITO coated on plastic film in a resistive touch panel requires a sheet resistance range of about 450 ohm/sq. When the ITO film resistance goes beyond a certain range, the controller may no longer correctly recognize touch input, leading to a malfunction.

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Successful Technology Always Takes Two

Sabine Schneider-Betz, the new Technology Manager for our Electronics and Displays businesses, is a specialist in industrial engineering and production technology. Joining TMD early this year, she discusses the importance of partnership to optimize sputtering technology.

What does a Technology Manager for Heraeus actually do? I am responsible for all the technical issues of our products and processes in the electronics and display markets. Basically, because our development efforts are strongly focused on the applications used by our customers, I need to ensure that our R&D teams are aligned with their requirements. There is also a strategic, longer-range element to my work staying abreast of market and technology trends and maintaining research efforts with universities and research institutes. What are some of these technical issues? This can include everything from providing material data, technical information and recommendations on specific materials, as well as offering support if there are any problems with the sputtering application. Though I mainly focus on new materials (e.g. providing feasibility studies), optimizing material properties, such as improving materials for increased power density, is also part of my work. The bottom line here is helping keep the customers production costs low. And what about your work with universities and research institutes? The technology projects done in cooperation with leading labs are actually an important part of our offer. For example, we recently worked with an Asian university on new

electrode materials for a complex LCD application. Once we achieve the results we are looking for, our team will present the solution to a customer for evaluation. It speeds up the development process and keeps our experts at a world-class level. What aspects of the job are the most challenging? Certainly its the more strategic parts I mentioned; understanding market trends and reconciling these with the needs of our customers. But its more than that, its about anticipating and identifying technology changes that could help the customer or present a business opportunity for Heraeus. So, you have a combination of practical demands and the challenge of staying ahead in a highly competitive environment. What do the electronics / displays customers rely on at TMD? First and foremost, they have a reliable partner in Heraeus. We provide high quality custom-tailored products at a competitive price and with reasonable delivery times. Is that all? Of course not; a further, increasingly important aspect is continuous quality improvement. The customer may buy a target from us, but thats only the beginning of an ongoing process of improving the quality of our products and services, all the time. Anything else? In summary, this is what a technology and development partner needs to do; constantly upgrade the hardware (production equipment, test platforms, etc.) and stay upto-date on technology and in touch with the customer. The customer is key to our work; it always takes two for successful technology.

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