Three scientists at Coherent developing a laser system for production of display technology have been nominated as one of three teams for the renowned Deutscher Zukunftspreis 2013 – The Federal President's Award for Technology and Innovation.
Dr Rainer Paetzel, Dr Ralph Delmdahl and Dr Kai Schmidt were honoured for developing a novel laser system, capable of producing polycrystalline layers of silicon at large scale by means of powerful, ultraviolet light pulses.
The laser system comprises a kilowatt class excimer laser plus a line beam optical system and creates a long length line focus (750mm) with high energy density. The line beam moves across the amorphous silicon layer and causes local melting. Closely behind the line focus the silicon cools and crystallises. Both laser power and line beam length can be scaled up according to demand.
Polysilicon backplanes are at the heart of today’s high-resolution displays for smartphones, tablets and the latest generation of OLED TV screens. The Deutscher Zukunftspreis is considered the most prestigious national award for outstanding innovations in technology, engineering, or natural science which are implemented in marketable products.
Federal President Joachim Gauck will honour the award-winning team selected by the jury at a festive event in Berlin on 4 December 2013.
