Current Status of Catalytic Chemical Vapor Deposition Technology History of Research and Current Status of Industrial Implementation

Highlights: • Catalytic Chemical Vapor Deposition Cat-CVD has been industrially implemented. • Cat-CVD is used in mass-production of silicon heterojunction solar cells. • Cat-CVD is used in mass-production of ultra-high-frequency transistors. • Cat-CVD is used in mass-production of coating films on razor blades. • The lifetimes of catalyzers can be extended by using metal alloys as catalyzers. -- Abstract: The present paper is to summarize the history of research and industrial applications of Cat-CVD (Catalytic Chemical Vapor Deposition or Hot-Wire CVD, HWCVD) technology, in addition to the features and advantages of Cat-CVD. The drawbacks of Cat-CVD for industrial implementation are discussed along with the method to overcome them. It is introduced that Cat-CVD has been already industrially implemented in fabrication of various electronic devices such as silicon heterojunction solar cells and ultra-high-frequency transistors, and also in other applications such as coating on various materials. Lifetimes of catalyzing wires, which has been a serious problem for industrial implementation, could be extended by using metal alloys as catalyzers. Cat-CVD was initially seeking applications on which the conventional plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) could not be used, and gradually it has been expanding to the areas which PECVD are being used. The future possible development of Cat-CVD is also demonstrated.