Flexible glass is a relatively new kind of substrate with a unique combination of properties that are, in different aspects, ideal for numerous applications. The material has aroused significant interest and has prompted activities in R&D communities dedicated to topics such as flexible electronics, flexible OLED and flexible PV. As a result, device demonstrators of considerable maturity have been created, some of which were even manufactured using a roll‐to‐roll (R2R) process. So far, these activities have not resulted in marketable final products that are produced in an industrial context.The key prerequisite for a widespread industrial adoption of R2R processing of flexible glass substrates is the availability of suitable and proven manufacturing equipment. The tools need to be able to handle and process this delicate material, taking into account its mechanical properties, which differ significantly from the typical flexible substrates such as paper, polymer film, or metal foil.This article discusses specific equipment aspects that need to be considered in the R2R handling of flexible glass, both in general and by taking the example of a roll‐to‐roll lab coating system. This tool has been designed specifically for handling flexible glass and will be available to the interested community from October 2016.Furthermore, it is shown how different processes such as R2R sputtering, evaporation, and flash lamp annealing can be used for potential flexible glass applications in flexible electronics, architecture, and energy conversion devices. Beyond that, related layer stacks deposited by vacuum coating will be discussed.
ZusammenfassungBei der industriellen Produktion komplexer optischer Schichtstapel wie Spiegel-, Antireflex-und LowE-Beschichtungen auf großen Substraten sind in die Beschichtungsanlage integrierte optische Analysesysteme unverzichtbare Hilfsmittel, um eine stabile Produktion innerhalb der oft engen Produkttoleranzen gewährleisten zu können. Diese stellen im Idealfall nicht nur die zur Qualitätskontrolle erforderlichen spektralen Informationen und daraus abgeleitete Gütekriterien zur Verfügung, sondern unterstützen das Bedienpersonal mit Informationen zur Dicke der Einzelschichten bei der schnellen Erkennung und Korrektur von Abweichungen vom Zielschichtsystem. Es werden Lösungsansätze auf der Basis von in-situ gemessenen Reflexions-, Transmissions-und Ellipsometriespektren vorgestellt, die zur Schichtdickenberechnung nicht nur die Spektren des kompletten Schichtstapels, sondern auch während der Abscheidung aufgenommene Spektren von Teilstapeln berücksichtigen. Dabei werden Genauigkeit, Robustheit und Stabilität verschiedener Mess-und Auswertestrategien miteinander verglichen.
AbstractThe paper discusses approaches to the insitu analysis of optical multi-layer coating stacks such as mirror coatings, AR coatings or lowE layer stacks on large-area substrates in production environments.The stable production of complex layer systems requires in-situ analysis systems that are able to provide spectral information and optical performance data, but also yield thickness information for individual layers and thus aide the operating staff in detailed analyzing deviations from the production target stack.Solutions incorporating in-situ optical reflectance, transmittance and ellipsometry measurements with optical data being collected not only for the completed layer stack, but also at intermediate coating stages, are discussed and the accuracy, robustness and stability of different measurement systems and computation strategies are compared.
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